Victoria is being urged to adopt stronger bail reform and a new independent police oversight body to stop the system from failing and harming Indigenous people.
Recommendations from state's first truth-telling inquiry were made in an interim report tabled to the Victorian parliament on Monday.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission's latest round of hearings focused on the state's child protection and criminal justice systems, with 84 witnesses giving evidence over 27 days.
The commissioners heard Indigenous families and communities were being routinely failed, resulting in devastating and ongoing harm.
The inquiry has made 46 recommendations to reform the systems and make them safer for Indigenous Victorians.
They include establishing and adequately resourcing an independent police oversight authority led by someone who has not been a police officer.
The body should investigate all complaints about police and have the power to arrest, search property and compel the production of information from Victoria Police.
"Victoria's police complaints system is failing First Peoples," the interim report stated.
"The system routinely denies or justifies police misconduct and fails to hold officers or management to account."
Routine strip searches should also be prohibited in prisons and youth justice centres, the commission recommended after hearing evidence of the cruel and degrading treatment.
Yoorrook also took aim at the government's staggered plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility, saying it should be immediately raised from 10 to 14 years.
The government must also go further with its bail reforms, the commission said.
Yoorrook recommended creating a presumption in favour of bail for all offences except murder, terrorism and other similar charges.
It should also fall to the prosecution to prove bail should not be granted and offenders should not be remanded in custody if a prison term was unlikely, the commission said.
Yoorrook heard the number of Aboriginal men on remand in prison increased 598 per cent between 2010 and 2019, while the numbers for Aboriginal women rose 475 per cent.
Self-determination was also key to real change, with the commission recommending the government give First Peoples decision-making powers, authority, control and resources.
That included in areas like child protection, where Indigenous children were over-represented 11 to one.
Wergaia/Wamba Wamba Elder and Yoorrook Chair Eleanor Bourke. Source: Supplied
"This report must be a catalyst for transformative change. The foundations for change have been laid in Victoria through truth and treaty.
"Now is the time for action."
Yoorrook is due to hand down its final report in 2025.
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