Lidia Thorpe claims NT Chief Minister ‘complicit' in genocide amid ire over deaths in custody
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has accused the Northern Territory's chief minister of being 'complicit in the ongoing genocide' of Indigenous Australians.
The claim came after two men recently died in police custody in the Top End, sparking ire across the country.
Senator Thorpe said on Tuesday 'there's no trust in the Northern Territory Police Force'.
'We know that they have systemic racism,' she told the ABC.
'We know through the Kumanjayi Walker inquest that the Northern Territory Police are racist, so families do not trust the Northern Territory Police and we need federal leadership.
'We need the feds to step in here.'
There have been calls, including from Indigenous Affairs Minister Malindiri McCarthy, for an external review of deaths in NT Police custody.
But Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has pushed back, instead saying she trusted the Territory's police to review itself.
'I think that shows how out of touch the Northern Territory Chief Minister is and that she is complicit in the ongoing genocide against our people,' Senator Thorpe said.
Pressed on what grounds she was making the claim, Senator Thorpe said Ms Finocchiaro was playing a role in the system that causing 'ongoing harm of our people'.
'The definition of genocide, according to the Geneva Convention, is causing harm to a group of people,' she said.
'The ongoing killings of our people in custody is ongoing harm of our people.
'The incarceration rates of our people, particularly in the Northern Territory, particularly of our children, is an act of genocide.
'The stealing of children and putting them in with white families is an act of genocide.
'So we meet all the definitions of genocide and I've certainly seen that over my time.'
Article II of the Genocide Convention states a party must act with 'intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group'.
NewsWire has contacted Ms Finocchiaro's office for comment.
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