Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Tuesday 21 May
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
This event is now fully booked. We have reserved spaces for any First Nations people who missed out on a booking – please email ticketing@wheelercentre.com or call 03 9094 7800 to request one.
Australia’s prison populations are booming and their demographics are heavily skewed – with Indigenous Australians shockingly over-represented. Why do we rely so heavily on prisons in our criminal justice system, and what would our society look like if we abolished incarceration? What are the alternatives in terms of prevention, deterrence and rehabilitation? What would we do about violent citizens? And what changes might we need to make to our health, housing and education systems to enable a prison-free society?
Presented in partnership with Melbourne Knowledge Week.
Featuring
Robyn Newitt
Robyn Newitt is a proud Dharawal (South-West Sydney area of New South Wales) and Yorta Yorta (Echuca and Shepparton area along the Murray River in Victoria) woman. Robyn currently works within the Department of Social Work and ...
Meriki Onus
Meriki Onus is a Gunnai and Gunditjmara woman who grew in Gippsland. Meriki is currently doing policy and advocacy at Djirra. She also has significant experience in campaigning in community on issues such as deaths in custody, youth detention, racism and more recently the Djapwurrung trees. Meriki is also a co-founder of Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance and is one of the organisers of Melbourne Invasion Day ‘Abolish Australia Day’ rally. She is passionate about transformative justice and abolition in her community.
Debbie Kilroy
Debbie Kilroy was imprisoned for drug trafficking in 1989 for six years. She was stabbed and witnessed the only murder inside an Australian women's prison, and lost almost everything: her marriage, her home and her children. After her release in 1992, Debbie established Sisters Inside to advocate for the rights of women and girls in prison.
Sisters Inside has won international acclaim for its work and for a unique structure which ensures it is driven by women inside prison. As CEO of Sisters Inside, Debbie is a tireless advocate for the interests of criminalised women and girls, and actively works to dismantle the prison industry.
Debbie was the first person in Australian who has serious convictions to be admitted by the Supreme Court of Queensland to practice law in 2007 and, in 2013, opened her own legal practice, alongside Sisters Inside. She has a degree in social work and is a qualified gestalt therapist. Debbie was awarded the OAM for services to the community for working with women in prison 2003 and in 2004 she was awarded the National Human Rights Medal.