By Ed Mosby, Senior Psychologist – Wakai Waian Healing
For more than a decade I have worked in prisons, courts, and communities across Queensland. I have seen firsthand the cycle of incarceration that grips our people. I have sat with men behind bars who want to return to their families, with women who feel unsafe in their homes, and with young people who believe there is no future beyond the justice system.
Through all of this experience, one truth has become clear: the answers will not come from more prisons, more punishment, or more reports. The answers lie within our communities, our culture, and in approaches that restore relationships and responsibilities rather than simply punishing individuals.
A History That Still Shapes Us
Torres Strait Islanders have always lived by laws of kinship, obligation, and respect. The Masig Statement of 2012 declared again that our people are sovereign and seek independence and self-determination. Eddie Koiki Mabo’s fight secured recognition of land rights, yet our broader struggle for recognition and justice continues.
Despite this, we remain overrepresented in prisons. At Lotus Glen and Townsville Correctional Centres, 60–70% of inmates are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Queensland Corrective Services, 2022). Nationally, we make up 32% of the prison population but only 3.8% of the general population (ABS 2023). Indigenous Australians are 15 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Indigenous Australians (Productivity Commission, 2020). For youth, the crisis is even sharper: in Queensland, 83% of young people in detention are Indigenous (QLD Youth Justice Annual Report, 2022–23).
These figures tell a story of systemic failure. They also confirm what criminologist Professor Don Weatherburn observed: “The key drivers of Indigenous imprisonment are not cultural difference, but social and economic disadvantage, family violence, alcohol abuse and poor engagement with the mainstream economy” (Weatherburn, 2014). These are not issues that prisons can resolve.
Restorative Justice – A Path Forward
Research by Professor Harry Blagg and colleagues highlights the need for a paradigm shift. In his 2016 report on innovative justice models, Blagg argues that the mainstream system’s reliance on punitive responses has failed Indigenous communities. What works instead are restorative justice approaches, designed and delivered by communities, which:
- Involve Elders and cultural leaders as central decision-makers.
- Focus on repairing harm to victims, families, and communities, not just punishing offenders.
- Reconnect men and women with cultural identity and kinship responsibilities.
- Recognise that healing violence and harm requires restoring relationships and rebuilding trust across the whole community, not isolating people in prisons.
Blagg’s work reminds us that “Western criminal justice processes tend to isolate and stigmatise, while Indigenous restorative justice seeks to reintegrate, heal, and strengthen.”
Buway Giz – Connection Before Correction
This is exactly the thinking behind Buway Giz – Connection Before Correction, developed by Wakai Waian Healing. The program is founded on the Torres Strait Model of Care—cultural grounding, collective healing, trauma-informed practice, and accountability through kinship.
It is not about punishment. It is about restoration. Buway Giz reminds participants that they are fathers, uncles, brothers, and leaders first and foremost.
Over six weeks, participants engage in yarning circles, cultural mentoring, and emotional regulation. They learn pathways into employment and leadership. They strengthen ties to family and community. Each element is designed to restore the bonds that incarceration has broken, creating the foundation for men to return to their communities with responsibility and dignity.
This approach mirrors Blagg’s call for “locally led, culturally legitimate restorative justice programs” that bring Indigenous laws and perspectives into the justice space.
Shared Power, Not Empty Promises
But here is the hard truth: self-determination cannot rest solely on the shoulders of Indigenous people fighting for it. For true self-determination, governments must be willing to transfer power and resources, and to trust Indigenous organisations to lead.
Corrections, Health, and Employment services must walk alongside us—not dictate from above. The Productivity Commission’s Indigenous Evaluation Strategy (2020) made it clear: “Without genuine partnerships that give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people decision-making power, outcomes will not shift.”
As Blagg observed, too often “programs are imposed from outside and fail to connect with cultural authority.” By contrast, restorative approaches like Buway Giz demonstrate that when communities lead, the healing is deeper, the outcomes stronger, and the change sustainable.
Walking With Us
The winds of our ancestors—Naigai, Zei, Kuki, and Sager—still guide us. They remind us of identity, resilience, renewal, and strength. They remind us that real change is possible when solutions come from within our culture.
I have worked long enough to know what does not work. I have also seen what does. Buway Giz is one of those answers. It is a restorative justice program rooted in Torres Strait sovereignty. It is time for governments to stop asking the same questions and start backing the solutions we have already created.
We will never give up on our men, our families, or our communities. With the strength of our culture, we will continue to push for connection before correction.