(c) Detention as a measure of last resort 336. While the numbers of children in juvenile detention have decreased in recent years, on an average day in 2016–2017, 913 (17%) of all the children in contact with the juvenile justice system were in detention.322 More than half of those children were unsentenced, awaiting the outcome of their legal matter or sentencing. Just over half of all children in detention were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders.323 (i) Diversion 337. The availability of appropriate diversionary programs is an essential part of reducing the numbers of children in juvenile justice and juvenile detention. Given the level of contact of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with criminal justice processes, and the integral role that juvenile offending plays in this, diversionary processes are particularly important for ensuring lasting reductions in the rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander overrepresentation in detention.324 338. While diversion is a key principle of the juvenile justice systems in all jurisdictions in Australia, it is underutilised for a variety of reasons, including limits to who can access the programs, insufficient staffing allocated to diversion, and lack of sufficient appropriately funded and culturally appropriate programs.325 The NT Royal Commission showed that in 2015–2016, only 35% of children apprehended in the Northern Territory were diverted. This is despite evidence that diversion has been successful in reducing recidivism.326 Nationwide, research also shows, Aboriginal children are less likely to be diverted than non-Indigenous children.327 (ii) Bail laws 339. Onerous bail laws play a role in the disproportionately high, and increasing, numbers of children on remand in juvenile detention. For example, the Law Council of Victoria submitted that, in Victoria, the number of children on remand has increased from 538 in 2007–2008 to 1,069 in 2016–2017. In 2017, the number of children detained on remand accounted for 80% of all detained children in the Parkville Juvenile Justice Centre.328 The Law Council of Victoria argues that recent amendments to the bail laws, which expand the categories of offences with no presumption in favour of bail and create a more onerous threshold for bail, have contributed to increasing numbers of children on remand.329 340. The NT Royal Commission reported that, in the Northern Territory on an average day in 2015–2016, 71% of children in detention were on 59