Top minister rejects external death in custody probe
Growing calls for an independent investigation into the death in custody of a young Aboriginal man have been strongly rejected by a territory's chief minister.
A lawyers' group has called for an independent probe to also investigate the Northern Territory government's failure to provide its duty of care to the man who was on the NDIS and under state care.
Kumanjayi White, a mentally disabled 24-year-old, died shortly after being forcibly restrained by two plain-clothes police officers at a supermarket in Alice Springs on May 27.
Police allege the young man, originally from the desert community of Yuendumu, was shoplifting and had assaulted a security guard who confronted him.
Police are investigating but calls have been growing for an independent inquiry to ensure impartiality and avoid issues concerning officers investigating their own.
NT Police have already ruled out an external inquiry and Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro on Tuesday backed that up, saying people could have full confidence in police "to do their job".
"This now needs to take its course and I urge everyone to respect the process," she told ABC Radio Darwin.
Police investigations of deaths in custody were entirely appropriate and that was "consistent nationally", Ms Finocchiaro said.
Advocacy groups including Amnesty International and Justice Not Jails, along with Kumanjayi White's grandfather, Warlpiri elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, have been calling for an external inquiry.
The Yuendumu community also lost 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker in 2019 when he was fatally shot by then NT police officer Zachary Rolfe during a bungled arrest.
Mr Rolfe was in 2022 found not guilty of all charges over the death.
The Kumanjayi Walker coronial findings have been postponed until July 7 after Kumanjayi White's death in custody.
Mr Hargraves has also called for CCTV and security guard body-worn camera footage to be released to Kumanjayi White's family, saying "we do not trust police".
Federal Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said last week an independent death in custody probe might be warranted "in the interest of having some separation".
Ms Finocchiaro said she had spoken to Senator McCarthy about her comments, which she described as "entirely unhelpful".
"If she wants to support the people of Yuendumu and people concerned about this, then the best thing she can do is use her powerful voice to call for calm and confidence in the NT Police Force," she said.
The Australian Lawyers Alliance on Tuesday added its voice to calls for an external investigation to include the failure of the NT government's duty of care to Kumanjayi White.
National criminal justice spokesman Greg Barns SC said the investigation needed independent oversight.
"Unfortunately, police cannot be trusted to investigate their own, particularly in a small jurisdiction, and neither can the NT government be trusted to investigate its duty of care failure," he said in a statement.
NT Police have said their investigation would abide by strict protocols with full transparency and be independently reviewed by the coroner.
"We ask the community to allow the investigation to take its course," Acting Commissioner Martin Dole said in a statement.
"We are committed to a full and fair examination of the facts."
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