Police shooting of Kumanjayi Walker shows Australia needs 'comprehensive reform', UN says

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2 days ago

The United Nations says Australia is facing a period of "soul-searching" and needs "comprehensive reforms" following the release of long-awaited findings from the inquest into the fatal police shooting of Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker.
Note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the names of Indigenous people who have died, used with the permission of their families.
Walker, 19, was shot dead by then-police officer Zachary Rolfe during an attempted arrest in the remote outback town of Yuendumu, in central Australia, in November 2019.
Mr Rolfe was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death by an NT Supreme Court jury in Darwin in 2022.
He argued he fired the shots in self-defence after Mr Walker stabbed him in the shoulder with a pair of scissors.
UN rights chief Volker Turk said the Northern Territory coroner's inquiry into Mr Walker's death "uncovers disturbing allegations of institutional racism in Northern Territory policing and use of excessive force".
"Findings by coroner reinforce urgent need for comprehensive reforms to address injustice suffered by First Nations peoples," Mr Turk said on X.
The findings were delivered on Monday, more than five years after the shooting, and after a nearly three-year inquiry.
NT coroner Elisabeth Armitage found Mr Rolfe "was racist", and that the then-police officer worked in an organisation with the hallmarks of "institutional racism", warning that there was a "significant risk" that Mr Rolfe's racism and other attitudes affected his response "in a way that increased the likelihood of a fatal outcome".
She found that she could not definitively rule that Mr Rolfe's racist attitudes contributed to Mr Walker's death, however she also said it could be not ruled out.
"That I cannot exclude that possibility is a tragedy for Kumanjayi's family and community who will always believe that racism played an integral part in Kumanjayi's death; and it is a taint that may stain the NT Police," she said.
Mr Rolfe was dismissed from the police force a year after his trial concluded for penning an open letter criticising the coronial process and upper echelons of the NT Police Force.
He rejected the coroner's findings around racism and misconduct while on duty and is considering appealing the findings.
Mr Walker is one of 598 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have died in custody in Australia since 1991, when detailed records began.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Mr Turk's spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani, said she expected the inquiry to "lead to quite a bit of soul-searching by the authorities to take measures".
Australian authorities should evaluate whether "further independent oversight" was needed, she said, also calling for "awareness-raising among police officers of the dangers of profiling, the dangers of unconscious bias".
ABC/Wires