A report released by Save the Children has calculated that locking up First Nation’s children costs Australia almost a quarter of a billion dollars each year.
Data shows that on an average day in June there were 480 young Indigenous people behind bars, at an average daily cost of $1355.
The aid agency has called for $300 million in funding to be put towards programs that reduce the rate of incarceration among young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
CEO of the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency Priscilla Collins says essential frontline programs fell to the side after the creation of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy.
