Inquest a litmus test for racism in police forces
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SBS Australia
2 days ago
- SBS Australia
Too many: 602 Indigenous deaths in custody since the royal commission
Warning: this article includes the names of Aboriginal people who have passed and distressing content. When Senator Lidia Thorpe first entered Parliament she carried a message stick with 441 notches on it - each marking the death in custody of a First Nations person since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. Today, five years later, she carried that same message stick into the Senate. It has 602 notches. The Parliament today supported a motion from Senator Thorpe calling for urgent national action on the crisis of First Nations deaths in custody, following the passing of 24-year-old Kumanjayi White in Mparntwe/Alice Springs in May. 'Kumanjayi White should be alive today," the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman said. "He was a young, disabled man who needed care and support, not restraint and force. His death is a national shame. "We are in the middle of a crisis. First Peoples continue to die in custody at horrifying rates. "There have been at least 17 deaths this year alone and still no government has fully implemented the Royal Commission's recommendations after more than three decades." Senator Thorpe's motion followed the release of the latest Closing the Gap data overnight, which shows rates of incarceration and suicide of First Peoples continue to worsen. "This motion extends the Senate's deepest sympathies to his family, to the Yuendumu community, to the families of the 17 First Peoples who have died in custody this year, and to the families of all those who have died since the 1991 Royal Commission," she said. These are not just statistics; they are sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, cousins, siblings, grandchildren – lost to a system that continues to harm our people. Her motion received support from crossbench and Labor parliamentarians in both the Senate and House of Representatives and Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Senator Kerrynne Liddle. Labor Senator Murray Watt said it was unacceptable that 602 First Nations people had died in custody since the royal commission. "The royal commission was clear that the best way to reduce First Nations deaths in custody is to reduce the high incarceration rate of First Nations people, including through social and economic responses, which the evidence shows can reduce crime, change the course of lives, and avoid people coming into contact with the police or justice system in the first place," he said. "This is what the Commonwealth Government is focusing on, including through the national agreement on Closing the Gap." Senator Watt said the Albanese Government was investing in First Nations-led justice reinvestment initiatives (where money that would be spent on prisons is, instead, invested in early intervention and diversionary programs) and called on the states and territories to do more. Senator Liddle and Senator Watt both extended condolences to Kumanjayi White's family and Yuendumu community. "His grieving family deserve answers," Senator Liddle said. "Australians, too, deserve answers. "The recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody released in 1991 outlined what needed to be done. "Indigenous Australians were disproportionately incarcerated, and they were also over represented in deaths in custody. "The Royal Commission report was a blueprint for change. "Change then was necessary; 34 years later, the job is still not done." Greens Leader Larissa Waters and independent Senator David Pocock also both spoke in favour of Senator Thorpe's motion. "We stand in solidarity with the Yuendumu and Warlpiri communities," Senator Waters said. "We join their calls for justice, and we echo the family's demand for an independent investigation, for the officers involved to be stood down, for the release of CCTV and body camera footage, and for the Northern Territory police to apologise for and cease publicly criminalising Kumanjayi White in their statements." Senator Thorpe called for unity and said the issue of First Nations deaths in custody was not about politics but about compassion. "The families of those who've died at the hands of the system need justice, not excuses," she said. "They need truth, accountability, and support to navigate a legal system that continues to fail us. "Ending deaths in custody – which are this country's great shame – must be a priority for this Labor government, they have the power to act now." Senator Thorpe said, while the support for her motion across the Parliament was encouraging, it must be backed up with action. "First Peoples have waited 34 years since the royal commission for action," she said. "Together, we can get this done."
Sky News AU
3 days ago
- Sky News AU
Cleared cop Zachary Rolfe lodges complaint over NT coroner's 'bias' Kumanjayi Walker inquest after she delivered findings in front of activist group banner
Former Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe has lodged a complaint accusing the coroner of bias after she delivered her findings into the death of Kumanjayi Walker in front of an activist group's banner. Sky News has confirmed Mr Rolfe lodged the formal complaint last week with the Northern Territory Judicial Commission, asking it to review the conduct of Coroner Elisabeth Armitage. Ms Armitage oversaw the inquest into the death of Mr Walker, who was shot dead by Mr Rolfe after he tried to arrest him in the remote Indigenous community of Yuendumu on November 9, 2019. On July 7, the coroner delivered her final report into Mr Walker's death at Yuendumu, almost three years after the inquiry began its public hearings. It is understood Mr Rolfe's complaint relates to three specific elements of Ms Armitage's inquiry. Two of those relate to her decision to deliver her findings at Yuendumu. Mr Rolfe has complained Ms Armitage delivered her findings at the PAW Media building in Yuendumu, rather than in a neutral courthouse setting. He has also raised concerns the coroner delivered the findings in front of a prominently displayed banner belonging to the group 'Karrinjala Muwajarri'. The group represents elders, families and community members from the Warlpiri nation calling for police to be banned from carrying guns in remote Indigenous communities. A statement on the group's website calls for the 2022 acquittal of Mr Rolfe over Mr Walker's murder in the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin to be thrown out and for him to be retried in Alice Springs. It also says it wants Mr Rolfe to face customary lore at Yuendumu. Video footage posted online shows the large banner being put up behind Ms Armitage as she begins delivering her findings at Yuendumu on July 7. Mr Rolfe has argued Mr Armitage was aware the banner was behind her, but continued to deliver her findings, even though the group had advocated physical violence against him through spearing. He has also raised concerns Ms Armitage did not address or correct the Karrinjala Muwajarri group's leader, Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, when he communicated to her his demand for a retrial and for violent retribution against judicial officers involved in his trial, when she visited Yuendumu with the coronial team in 2023. The third aspect of Mr Rolfe's complaint relates to Ms Armitage's failure to properly investigate the actions of five senior police officers who provided statutory declarations to her inquiry, claiming awards distributed at the elite Territory Response Group's Christmas party were not racist. Mr Rolfe had told the inquiry of his knowledge of the awards when giving evidence, before the five officers' statutory declarations were provided to the court. Mr Rolfe subsequently provided copies of the awards which included the 'c**n of the year' award, and the 'Nugedah' award for the 'most c**n-like' behaviour. Ms Armitage found the awards were 'grotesque examples of racism', but did not recall the five officers to explain why they had provided statutory declarations saying the awards were not racist. Mr Rolfe has argued the coroner has breached judicial standards of impartiality and requested her conduct by investigated. It's understood the complaint was sent to the NT Judicial Commission last week and that the commission's principal investigation officer Lang Williamson has subsequently asked Mr Rolfe to provide further information. When contacted, Mr Williamson said there were strict confidentiality provision regarding complaint information. 'The Commission therefore is unable to comment on individual complaints, or to confirm whether any individual has made a complaint against any specific judicial officer,' he said. In her final report Ms Armitage found Mr Rolfe was racist and said she could not rule out the possibility racism played a part in Mr Walker's death. Ms Armitage was contacted for comment but did not respond before deadline. Mr Rolfe's complaint can be revealed at the same time Ms Armitage faces significant criticism from senior members of the Northern Territory Government. Speaking in the NT Parliament on Tuesday, Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Robyn Cahill described a report by Ms Armitage into the domestic violence deaths of four Aboriginal women as 'underwhelming' and 'uninspiring'. Ms Cahill questioned the time and expense of Ms Armitage's inquiries, after she took over the role from long-serving Coroner Greg Cavanagh in 2022. 'Mr Cavanagh's reports were undertaken in a timely manner, his reports were concise, his recommendations short, sharp and clearly defined. This compared to Coroner Armitage's approach which has been protracted, resulting in lengthy reports delivered in a manner seeming to lack the humility one might expect from an officer of the court, more focussed on the reveal rather than the result,' she said. Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro last week flagged the government could make changes to the Coroner's Act to limit the length and cost of coronial investigations. Her comments followed a Sky News report showing two NT Government departments spent more than $7.4 million on the inquest into Mr Walker's death. Government sources say the final cost of the inquiry to taxpayers could be more than $11 million. Ms Armitage subsequently released a statement through a court spokesman defending the length and cost of the inquiry and noting various legal challenges made by Mr Rolfe and another police officer to the Supreme Court had contributed to the delays. 'Parties are entitled to exercise their legal rights, and the Coroner's Court is bound by the rulings of higher courts, meaning that it is required to wait for those rulings before proceedings could be re-commenced,' the spokesman said. 'In this case, each of the appeals against the coroner were unsuccessful and the court resumed as soon as possible after receiving the rulings.' Labor MP Chansey Paech defended the coroner and said it was absurd the government was criticising her for doing a thorough job. 'You've had the Chief Minister come out now and start talking about changes to the Coroner's Act, rather than accept recommendations of the coronial inquests,' he told the Parliament. 'That's what you're seeing. That is not good.'
SBS Australia
22-07-2025
- SBS Australia
'We can't walk in the street.' A grieving grandfather is calling for justice and answers
Warning: this article contains the names of First Nations people who have died and distressing content. Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, the grandfather of a 24-year-old man who passed away in Northern Territory police custody, has told Living Black his community won't feel safe in public until they get justice. Kumanjayi White , a Warlpiri man with disabilities, passed after being restrained by police at the Coles supermarket in Alice Springs in May. 'When I heard, I didn't believe, 'What are you talking about?' 'What are you trying to say?' 'What are you telling me? Tell me,'" Uncle Ned explains to Living Black. 'I didn't wanna talk to anyone at that very moment because I was very, very angry and frustrated. Kumanjayi White's passing sent shockwaves around the country, sparking series of vigils and thrust the issue of Indigenous deaths in custody back into the national spotlight. Uncle Ned says people claiming to have witnessed the incident have come forward. 'They said that they saw everything. The police was on top of my jaja (grandson) and their knee on his neck and on his back,' Uncle Ned says. 'And face down on the ground, and had him, he couldn't breathe.' Yuendumu hurting Uncle Ned, a respected Warlpiri Elder from Yuendumu, has become a voice for a community that has seen two of its young men pass in police custody since 2019. Both were Uncle Ned's grandsons. After Constable Zachery Rolfe shot Kumanjayi Walker dead, the official explanation took six years. 'I found that Mr Rolfe was racist and that he worked in, and was the beneficiary of, an organisation with hallmarks of institutional racism,' the coroner said. The community is angry and hurting and struggling to come to terms with yet another fight for answers about how their relative passed. 'They're not giving us the footage of the CCTV ... why is that?' Uncle Ned asks. 'We have the right, as the family, we have the right to see it.' The coronial inquest into Kumanjayi White's passing has been paused while the major crime division of NT Police investigates but the family's lawyer is calling for an independent investigator take over. The family's lawyer, George Newhouse from the National Justice Project, says they're being kept in the dark. 'First Nations people have a terrible relationship with the NT Police," he says. "And so, at one level, it's vital that an independent body or an independent investigator take over to give them some faith in the system.' Uncle Ned says he believes the officers involved should be stood down, pending an independent investigation. 'What? You just, you just kill a bloke and just walk away from it? Just like nothing happens? That is disgusting!" he said. The hurt and anger has distilled into a national demand for justice and Uncle Ned says he will not stop until the family's demands are met. Uncle Ned wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the 18th anniversary of the NT Intervention to make the point that federal leaders have the power to step in. He says, if leaders in Canberra can intervene to take away Indigenous people's rights, they can also act to protect them. 'We want the Prime Minister to say something, to stop this madness. It is disgrace to us,' Uncle Ned says. 'We can't live or walk in the street. "We feel uncomfortable living in our own community, we cannot live like this in our own country.' Doubly disadvantaged Kumanjayi White had a cognitive disability and was living in Alice Springs because he needed access to a level of care not available on Country in Yuendumu. The family wants to know how a young man with a disability and on a guardianship order came into contact with the criminal justice system again and again during his young life – including with time in jail on remand. When the coronial inquest resumes, it will consider the broader circumstances that led to Kumanjayi White's passing. First People's Disability Network chief executive Damian Griffis says Kumanjayi White's passing highlights that, if you are an Aboriginal person living with a disability, you are very likely to experience both racial discrimination and disability prejudice. 'And we need to change attitude dramatically,' Mr Griffis says. 'Police need to recognise that some people are very vulnerable. "Some people may have difficulty understanding instruction because of their nature of their disability – that's not their fault; that's not their failing. "It's on everyone else to accommodate people with disability.' He says that often disability rights is framed as the last bastion of human rights. 'If we want to talk about people that are more vulnerable, extremely vulnerable to abuse and neglect, for example, it'd be pretty uncommon for an Australian with disability and for also First Nations people with disability not to have experienced abuse or neglect or some form of interaction with police that is gonna be very adverse," Mr Griffis said. Shameful record That adversity permeates jurisdictions around the country. There have been a staggering 598 deaths of First Nations people in custody since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991. Thirteen First Nations people have died in custody so far this year, according to the Institute of Criminology. A 68-year-old NT man died in Royal Darwin Hospital two weeks after Kumanjayi White. He was held down in the prone position by five specialist prison guards in Long Bay prison in NSW. They kneeled on his back as he died, despite Mr Dungay's repeated cries that he couldn't breathe. No one was charged. In Western Australia in 2008, Ngaanyatjarra Elder Mr Ward spent four hours in a prisoner transport van being taken from Laverton to Kalgoorlie. It was 42 degrees and the WA coroner said Mr Ward was effectively 'cooked' to death. Unfinished business Australian Human Rights Commission President Hugh de Krester told Living Black that, 34 years after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, Indigenous people are still dying in custody because a key recommendation has been ignored. 'The absolute key to reducing Aboriginal deaths in custody is reducing the over-imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,' he said. 'We have the Closing the Gap commitments, we have governments around the country saying 'we're committed to this' but the rates are going in the wrong direction.' He told Living Black that all governments, state, territory and federal, need to do more to meet their human rights obligations. 'The number one thing that governments need to do to stop that over imprisonment, is to pursue fair, effective criminal justice policies that address the reasons that people are coming into contact with police, coming into contact with the criminal justice system in the first place," Mr de Krester said. 'Those reasons are related to things like education, to healthcare, to supporting communities, to disability supports. "Until we get that right, we'll continue to see over imprisonment.' Education and healthcare Damian Griffis says there are some tough lessons that all levels of government should learn from Kumanjayi White's passing. 'There's still a very serious lack of fair and equitable access to the NDIS for our people with disability, and particularly those mob who are in regional or remote parts of the country," he said. 'The fact that he had to live off Country is a failure of the service system; a failure of the system to recognise that everyone should be entitled to live on Country and it's on the system to build the support so people can stay on Country. 'The fact that he was off Country a long way away from home, made him very vulnerable and that's another element of this that's wrong and very sad.' Living Black airs Mondays at 8.30pm on NITV, replays on Tuesday 10.35pm on SBS and is available on SBS On Demand.
