Latest news with #DeathsInCustody
ABC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Prime minister 'missing in action' as Indigenous legal services call for national cabinet on deaths in custody
Indigenous legal services say the prime minister is "missing in action" and should convene a national cabinet meeting over rising Aboriginal incarceration rates and deaths in custody. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of their family. The case of 24-year-old Kumanjayi White has sparked grief and anger in Indigenous communities across the country. The Warlpiri man— who lived with a disability — died in police custody last month, after he was restrained by plain-clothed officers on the floor of Coles in Alice Springs. On Saturday, another Indigenous man died at Royal Darwin Hospital while in the custody of federal police, about a week after he was detained. National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) has urged federal Labor to bring all state and territory premiers and chief ministers together to work towards "justice" for First Nations people. "We absolutely need the federal government to be making sure that mass incarceration — not only in the Northern Territory, but right around the country — and justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is placed onto the agenda of national cabinet," said NATSILS chair and Wiradjuri lawyer Karly Warner. "At the moment the prime minister is missing in action. Ms Warner said the Northern Territory justice system had been "spiralling for years and the federal government has known about this". "It is absolutely on the brink and requires urgent and immediate intervention from the federal government to ensure that it actually reforms and the transformative action occurs," she said. The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) has also called for an "emergency intervention" into the territory's justice system, and for First Nations leaders and Commonwealth and NT authorities to address the territory's soaring incarceration rate. Since the NT's Country Liberal Party (CLP) came to power in August and rolled out a suite of tough-on-crime measures, the prison population has risen by more than 500 people, with almost half of all prisoners on remand. Since Kumanjayi White's death, the chairs of the NT's Central and Northern land councils have raised concerns about a deteriorating relationship between Aboriginal Territorians, the government and law enforcement. Ms Warner said the Commonwealth could make sure funding agreements with the NT government were tied to "transformative justice system change". "Access to justice is a huge problem nationally but also specifically in the Northern Territory, where we have the highest incarceration rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of any jurisdiction," she said. "We've heard words from the prime minister, both four years ago but also in May in his victory speech, talking about how his government would be a government that would work towards reconciling Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. "When we have 36 per cent of the national prison population being made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we have to ask how is it that they can achieve [that]. "This is really requiring political buy-in. It is not time to step back." Speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said no government had "done well enough on any of these areas". "We attempted last term to break with business as usual. We attempted to do that. I think we can't be accused of shying away from that," he said. Mr Albanese said the Voice referendum result showed that "we need to find different ways of engaging respectfully and listening". When asked if he supported calls for a federal intervention into the NT's justice system, the prime minister said he needed to be "convinced that people in Canberra know better than people in the Northern Territory about how to deal with these issues". His office has been contacted for comment. Ms Warner also echoed calls for an independent investigation into Mr White's death in custody, which have been led by his family and backed by NT federal MP Marion Scrymgour. "An independent investigation is the absolute minimum that must occur here to ensure that the family get the answers that they deserve," she said. "No Australian jurisdiction has got a completely independent system for investigating deaths in police custody. "The federal government could set up a system and should set up a system to ensure there are independent investigations into deaths in custody." NT Police Acting Commissioner Martin Dole has rejected requests for the investigation to be handed to an external body, saying there are strict procedures regarding "deaths involving police contact with the public". NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has also labelled those calls "ridiculous" and "unhelpful in the extreme". "What it does is undermines confidence in the very people whose job it is to undertake these matters, and that is the Northern Territory Police Force," she told ABC Radio Alice Springs on Thursday.
ABC News
07-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Bereaved mothers seek answers as they welcome proposed inquiry into treatment of Indigenous detainees
Narelle King, whose son Ms King has decried a lack of answers for bereaved mothers. "To this day, I don't know what happened to my son, but every day I find the courage to fight for him," Ms King said. "It's been nine years since my son passed away at [the Alexander Maconochie Centre], but today, I just feel like he is with me," she said after watching the debate in the assembly. Ms King was scathing of the jail's treatment of her son and other Indigenous inmates who have similarly died in custody. "It's not acceptable for any mother to hear that sort of news," she said, slamming the facility. " They don't care about our boys. " The ACT government on Wednesday backed a proposal to establish an independent inquiry into the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees at Canberra's jail. There has been a number of recent deaths of Indigenous detainees — including two within four days in February. Independent MLA Thomas Emerson brought the motion to the assembly calling for a board of inquiry into the deaths in custody. "It should not be the case in a progressive jurisdiction, with human rights legislation, that people are dying in prison and we don't hear why or how that is happening," Mr Emerson said. 'Deeply sorry' Corrections Minister Marisa Patterson outside the ACT Legislative Assembly. ( ABC News: Harry Frost ) Corrections Minister Marisa Paterson told the assembly the government will consult on what a proposed board of inquiry should look like once an "imminent" review of over-representation of Indigenous people in the justice system is completed later this year. "I want to put strongly on the record: To all the families — non-indigenous and indigenous — who have died in the custody of the [Alexander Maconochie Centre] since it opened, I am deeply sorry," she said. "We know we can do better." She said she planned to ask the ACT coroner to expedite relevant coronial inquiries currently underway. "And then we can progress to a board of inquiry." 'More than alarm bells' Bundjalung and Yorta Yorta man Joe Hedger supports a board of inquiry. ( ABC News: Harry Frost ) Bundjalung and Yorta Yorta man Joe Hedger is a local advocate and said the inquiry should not be "to point fingers but to get to the bottom of what's not working in the prison." He said three deaths in custody within a six-month period have left the community reeling. "That's more than alarm bells, that's a tragic circumstance, particularly for the families," Mr Hedger said. "I think what we consistently hear is that there is a high degree of boredom for a lot of Aboriginal people who go into AMC, and we know that part of dealing with that boredom is the drugs … we need to make sure that we provide programs … and [help] to transition out of AMC," he said. Distressing stories spur motion Mr Emerson said he was spurred into action after hearing troubling claims of what has gone on within the prison. "I'm hearing stories about people melting down nicotine patches and injecting them because of the tobacco ban in prison. It's really alarming," he said. "[I'm told] there are needles being shared for 12 months at a time. There's huge rates of hepatitis in the AMC. "That just doesn't meet community expectations. Action is needed. "And If we can get culturally appropriate detainment right for Indigenous people in the AMC, that's going to translate to other detainees as well."
