Aboriginal land councils accuse NT government of human rights abuses in overcrowded prisons

Australia Broadcast Center

5 days ago

The Northern Territory's four Aboriginal land councils have joined forces to accuse the NT's Country Liberal Party government of overt racism and human rights abuses.
In a rare joint press conference on Thursday, the land councils were unified in their anger against the government's policies, specifically the administration's new public safety and prison laws, which they said ignored and undermined the rights of Aboriginal people.
Since the NT government came to power in August, elected after a campaign focused on driving down crime rates, it has implemented a range of new laws focused on hardening bail and clamping down on youth offenders.
Since then, the jurisdiction's incarceration rate has risen by around 30 per cent.
The deputy chair of the Central Land Council, Barbara Shaw, took aim at the NT's skyrocketing Aboriginal prison rates, describing it as "stacking and racking".
"We are stacking and racking and it's so disgusting.
"This government is not listening to our elders, to take our children back onto country and be with families … unfortunately this government does not want to listen to Aboriginal people."
Earlier this week, the acting head of the NT's Aboriginal legal aid service revealed the agency was seeing cases of children as young as 11 years old being kept in police watch houses overnight, with the lights on 24 hours a day and adults screaming in nearby cells.
The Northern Land Council, Central Land Council, Tiwi Land Council and Anindiliyakwa Land Council represent Aboriginal communities from the Top End to Central Australia in the NT.
The land council leaders said despite their prominence in NT affairs, their advice and aspirations for their people had been consistently ignored.
Northern Land Council chair Matt Ryan described the NT government's newly implemented policies as "appalling" and said "at the moment none of them are working".
The NT government has issued statements claiming its policies have seen some improvement in property crime, including burglaries, since coming into effect.
When asked if the NT government's policies contained overt racism against Aboriginal people, Mr Ryan said: "There is — let me be very honest, there is — no buts about it."
In their statement, the land councils also called for an audit of all federal government money spent by the NT government to prove it was having a positive impact on Aboriginal communities.
Federal government funds make up more than 70 per cent of the NT's annual budget.
"All Aboriginal people want to see [an audit] happen," Mr Ryan said.
"Where's our money being spent?
"Is it being spent wisely, what infrastructure … they're developing [new] prisons, that money should've been spent on communities developing programs in communities."
The land councils also said they wanted to see progress towards an independent investigation into racism within the NT Police Force, following on from the handing down of the wide-reaching Kumanjayi Walker inquest earlier this month.
Mr Ryan said the land councils wanted to work with the acting police commissioner to achieve that, but "at the moment, we haven't seen any movement".
Deputy chair of the Tiwi Land Council, former AFL player Austin Wonaeamirri, said a key failure by the current administration was a lack of consultation on the ground with remote Aboriginal communities.
In a 600-word statement in response to the land councils, NT Aboriginal Affairs Minister Steve Edgington pointed to work and consultation going on between his government and the four land councils and with remote communities generally.
"We are working together with Aboriginal Peak Organisations (APO NT) which include the four lands councils on Closing the Gap initiatives," he said.
"We are also working in partnership with Aboriginal people to empower communities that want a greater say.
"This is creating opportunities for local community members to lead and contribute and enable them to have a more active role in community development and decision-making processes.
"We are committed to continuing engagement and consultation with community members and wider stakeholders in regional and remote areas across the territory."