Nowra, NSW
Nowra Justice Reinvestment is a place-based, Aboriginal community-led justice reinvestment site in the Shoalhaven (NSW) led by Waminda (South Coast Women's Health & Wellbeing Aboriginal Corporation) and supported by Just Reinvest NSW under a 2023–2026/27 DCJ contract.
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.
$2.5 million (2023 to 2027)
DCJ funding to expand JR to Nowra and Kempsey
“In 2023, DCJ funded Just Reinvest NSW $2.5 million to expand Justice Reinvestment initiatives in Kempsey and Nowra from June 2023 to June 2027.”
View the source →$9.8 million over four years
NSW Government investment in new justice reinvestment pilots (2022/23 Budget, statewide context)
“On 27 February 2023, the NSW Government announced community consultation to expand Justice Reinvestment in Kempsey and Nowra, as part of the NSW Government's $9.8 million investment over four years announced in the 2022/23 Budget.”
View the source →9.3 percentage points (51.7 per cent) less likely to go to prison
Circle Sentencing reduction in imprisonment (NSW-wide program piloted in Nowra; NOT a JR-site outcome)
“9.3 percentage points (51.7 per cent) less likely to go to prison”
View the source →3.9 percentage points (9.6 per cent) less likely to re-offend within 12 months
Circle Sentencing reduction in reoffending within 12 months (NSW-wide program piloted in Nowra; NOT a JR-site outcome)
“3.9 percentage points (9.6 per cent) less likely to re-offend within 12 months”
View the source →more than 1,450 sittings (per Ulladulla Times); 1,518 per DCJ
Circle Sentencing sittings since 2002 Nowra pilot (NSW-wide cumulative; NOT a JR-site outcome)
“In the 20 years since the program was first piloted in Nowra, more than 1,450 Circle Sentencing sittings have been held.”
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
Nowra Justice Reinvestment
Service provided by Just Reinvest NSW
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
Hayley Longbottom
Chief Executive Leader, Waminda (lead organisation for Nowra JR); member of Waminda's Chief Executive Leadership Team
Source →Cleone Wellington
Member, Waminda Chief Executive Leadership Team
Source →Kristine Falzon
Member, Waminda Chief Executive Leadership Team
Source →Lisa Wellington
Member, Waminda Chief Executive Leadership Team
Source →The arc
2002
Circle Sentencing (a related Aboriginal community sentencing program, distinct from the JR backbone) was first piloted in Nowra, the precursor of later justice reform in the Shoalhaven.
Source →2023
On 27 February 2023 the NSW Government announced community consultation to expand Justice Reinvestment to Nowra and Kempsey, identifying both as new JR sites.
Source →2023
DCJ contracted Just Reinvest NSW $2.5 million to expand Justice Reinvestment in Kempsey and Nowra, June 2023 to June 2027; Waminda became the Nowra backbone/lead organisation.
Source →2024
2023/24 milestones reported to NSW Parliament: finalisation of a Program Logic and Theory of Change for Nowra and Kempsey, and development of local JR solutions.
Source →In the record
Milton Ulladulla Times · 2023
NSW Department of Communities and Justice · 2023-02-27
Just Reinvest NSW · 2025
Parliament of NSW
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, and publishes its own figures. We can stage a page. The community publishes it.