Using Indigenous businesses to create common ground in custodial settings
Professor Kerry Arabena
Managing Director
Why common ground matters
Prisons strip life back to routines and control. For Aboriginal people, that comes on top of disconnection from culture, family, and Country. In that kind of environment, reform doesn’t stick unless there’s a base of common ground to work from.
Indigenous businesses are in a unique spot to create that base. They carry cultural authority, they’re trusted in communities, and they can bridge the gap between institutions and Aboriginal voices.
A simple exercise that changed the room
In one of our workshops, we asked participants to share a smell that reminded them of childhood. On the surface, it sounded like a light icebreaker. But when correctional officers, Elders, policymakers, community leaders, and men with lived experience of prison all named theirs (freshly cut grass, woodsmoke, roast dinners, eucalyptus after rain) the room shifted.
For a moment, the rigid roles of “officer” and “inmate” dropped away. People connected as humans with families, histories, and memories. That shared recognition softened the space and laid down a baseline of trust. From there, harder conversations could happen.
From dialogue to co-design
Once common ground was in place, we worked with stakeholders to map out how custodial health could look different. Contagion theory gave us a way to frame it: if negative behaviours can ripple through a unit, so can positive ones. That thinking helped shape ideas for an Aboriginal Community Controlled Correctional Health Service (ACCCS).
The workshops showed why this mattered. Men with lived experience explained what had worked for them inside, and what hadn’t. In one unit, Aboriginal men taking on peer support roles described how small cultural practices (running a Yarning Circle, preparing others for family visits) reduced tension and built solidarity. Staff noticed too. They spoke about weekends being calmer, with fewer flare-ups.
Corrections officers also reflected on their side of things. Rules and discipline never changed, but the belonging men created for themselves gave the unit a different atmosphere, one that shaped how staff experienced their jobs.
These examples show the value of common ground. It shifts the social climate so both inmates and staff can operate with less conflict and more respect.
The role of Indigenous businesses
Karabena’s role was to hold the space where this work could happen. That meant balancing power dynamics, making sure lived experience counted as expertise, and embedding Aboriginal authority alongside professional and bureaucratic voices. Through this process, we landed on a set of building blocks:
Aboriginal community workers embedded in prisons
Trauma-informed, culturally safe programs
Peer mentoring and Aboriginal prisoner leadership
Cultural safety training for custodial staff
Formal recognition from corrections leadership
What change looks like
The shared roadmap pointed to three horizons:
Short term: Culture becomes visible, participation lifts, early peer influence is positive
Medium term: Group norms move towards healing, mentoring networks strengthen, responsibility is shared
Long term: Reoffending falls, prisons are safer, and Aboriginal-led corrections becomes the norm
Why Indigenous businesses are critical
Our contribution was to convene diverse groups, put lived experience on equal footing, and embed cultural authority at every stage. Without Indigenous business facilitation, it’s unlikely this would have come together within the tight timeframes. Government “sprints” push for quick results, and Indigenous businesses bring both the cultural legitimacy and the agility to deliver.
Conclusion
Common ground in prisons is fragile, but essential. It needs cultural authority, skilled facilitation, and the ability to bring together those who run prisons with those who live in them. Indigenous businesses can hold that space, making it possible to shift custodial health towards trust, dialogue, and reforms that last, benefiting inmates and staff alike.