Bourke, NSW
Maranguka is an Aboriginal-led, place-based justice reinvestment initiative in Bourke, NSW, operating Australia's first major justice reinvestment site through the Bourke Tribal Council's "Growing Our Kids Up Safe, Smart and Strong" strategy.
Impact on the record
Every figure carries the source it came from and a label for what kind of figure it is, so an evaluated outcome is never confused with a projection, a background number, or a figure from a related program. Most sites here were funded in the 2024 and 2025 Commonwealth rounds, and the first evaluations under the national framework begin from late 2026. An empty panel is an honest early-stage record, not a failure.
$3.1 million (vs $0.6 million operational costs)
Gross economic impact attributed to the project in 2017
“KPMG estimates the changes in Bourke during 2017, corresponding to the operation of the Maranguka JR Project, resulted in a gross impact of $3.1 million (with operational costs of $0.6 million).”
View the source →31%
Increase in Year 12 student retention rates (2017 vs 2016)
“Youth development, with a 31 per cent increase in year 12 student retention rates and a 38 per cent reduction in charges across the top five juvenile offence categories.”
View the source →14%
Reduction in bail breaches (2017 vs 2016)
“Adult empowerment, with a 14 per cent reduction in bail breaches and a 42 per cent reduction in days spent in custody.”
View the source →38%
Reduction in charges across the top five juvenile offence categories (2017 vs 2016)
“a 38 per cent reduction in charges across the top five juvenile offence categories.”
View the source →23%
Reduction in police-recorded domestic violence (2017 vs 2016)
“Family strength, with a 23 per cent reduction in police recorded incidence of domestic violence and comparable drops in rates of re-offending.”
View the source →42%
Reduction in days spent in custody (2017 vs 2016)
“a 14 per cent reduction in bail breaches and a 42 per cent reduction in days spent in custody.”
View the source →approx. 5x
Return on operational costs in 2017
“These findings indicate impacts approximately five times greater than the operational costs for 2017, excluding in-kind contributions.”
View the source →$7 million over 5 years
Projected additional gross impact over five years (if half of 2017 results sustained)
“Should Bourke sustain just half of the results achieved in 2017, an additional gross impact of $7 million over the next five years could be delivered.”
View the source →The ledger in plain view
Funding on record (lead organisation)
$3,540,000
Cost of detaining one child for a year
$1,300,000
ROGS 2026 national average
Equivalent child-years of detention
3
This is funding recorded against the lead organisation, not the site-specific federal allocation, which governments publish only as national envelopes. The comparison sets what a community receives against the price of a single cell, so the question moves from whether to fund the community to why we still fund the cell.
What runs here
Maranguka Justice Reinvestment - Bourke
Community-led justice reinvestment initiative in Bourke, NSW. Data-informed Aboriginal community-developed solutions reducing interactions with criminal justice system. Flagship JR program in Australia demonstrating community co-design approach.
The lead organisation also supports
Community Leading JR - Moree
Aboriginal community-led justice reinvestment program in Moree, NSW. Part of Just Reinvest NSW statewide initiative focused on reducing over-imprisonment through community-developed solutions.
Cowra Justice Reinvestment
Service provided by Just Reinvest NSW
Designing a Justice Reinvestment Mechanism for New South Wales
This initiative calls for governments and Aboriginal communities to collaborate in designing a policy mechanism for justice reinvestment in New South Wales, focusing on community-led approaches to reduce contact with the criminal justice system.
Just Reinvest New South Wales (JRNSW)
An organization working to 'reinvest' public money spent on expanding prisons into programs run by and for Indigenous Communities that can reduce incarceration, specifically within New South Wales.
Just Reinvest NSW - Moree
Community backbone support
Just Reinvest NSW - Mount Druitt
Community backbone support
The people
The arc
2011
Just Reinvest NSW began as a campaign to bring justice reinvestment to NSW.
Source →2012
Partnership between Just Reinvest NSW and the Bourke community / Maranguka commenced.
Source →2013
Bourke became the first major pilot site in Australia to adapt and implement an Aboriginal-led place-based model of justice reinvestment, the Maranguka Justice Reinvestment Project.
Source →2015
The 'Growing Our Kids Up Safe, Smart and Strong' strategy was developed through community conversations using data on Aboriginal young people's lives in Bourke.
Source →2018
KPMG published the Maranguka Justice Reinvestment Project Impact Assessment (November 2018), reporting 2017 outcomes.
Source →2022
Just Reinvest NSW and Maranguka transitioned from being initiatives of the Aboriginal Legal Service to operating as independent not-for-profit organisations (media release 5 April 2022).
Source →2024
Maranguka made submissions to the NSW Parliament Inquiry into Community Safety in Regional and Rural Communities (31 May 2024) and the Senate Inquiry into Australia's youth justice and incarceration system (10 October 2024); published its 2024 Annual Report.
Source →In the record
Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) · 2022-04-05
Maranguka · 2025
ANZSOG · 2025-09
Maranguka / NSW Parliament · 2024-05-31
Inside Story
The network
About this page
This is a public record built from sources in the open, not yet a profile the community holds. Just Reinvest NSW is the editor of record once it claims this page. When a site claims it, the community decides what the world sees, names its own people, publishes its own figures, and shares photos of its work with consent. We can stage a page. The community publishes it.
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