Latest news with #KumanjayiWhite
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.
ABC News
08-07-2025
- ABC News
Kumanjayi Walker was killed in Yuendumu nearly six years ago. His family is still fighting for change
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the names and images of Indigenous people who have died, used with the permission of their families. "Ceasefire." It is a word that has reverberated in the remote town of Yuendumu, after a police officer fatally shot a 19-year-old teenager. The same agonising call came again on Tuesday from Warlpiri elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, a day after the NT coroner delivered her findings into the teenager's death. Speaking in Warlpiri and then English, Mr Hargraves told reporters gathered in Yuendumu on Tuesday that "we need to let the world know what has been happening to us". Nineteen-year-old Warlpiri-Luritja man Kumanjayi Walker died after being shot three times by then-constable Zachary Rolfe in a dark house, the day of a family funeral — a death the NT coroner on Monday ruled was "avoidable". The handing down of those findings was delayed by another tragedy — the death of 24-year-old Warlpiri man Kumanjayi White in May, after he was restrained by police on the floor of an Alice Springs supermarket. "We were this close to end it, but again something happens, and another one gets killed," Mr Hargraves said. "In future when we welcome the police, it needs to be two ways of working and understanding." Mr Walker's cousin Samara Fernandez-Brown said she was "relieved" the coronial inquest had ended but the community wouldn't stop fighting for change, including for an ombudsman for police complaints. "When we heard the coroner say that there was structural and entrenched racism in the NT police we felt validated; as a family, to us, we felt racism killed Kumanjayi," she said. She also welcomed the coroner's finding that her cousin didn't reach for the former constable's gun in the scuffle that night. On Monday, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage found that Mr Rolfe "was racist", and that he was a beneficiary of an organisation — the NT Police Force — that had "the hallmarks of institutional racism". "While it was not possible for me to say with certainty that Mr Rolfe's racist attitudes were operative in his decisions on 9 November or were a contributing cause of Kumanjayi's death, I cannot exclude that possibility," she said. Mr Rolfe was acquitted of all charges related to Kumanjayi Walker's death, including murder, in his 2022 Supreme Court trial. On Tuesday Mr Rolfe released a statement saying he was entitled to the presumption of innocence and didn't accept any coronial findings "inconsistent with his rightful acquittal". "He does not accept a finding that he subverted [Yuendumu] Sergeant [Julie] Frost and instituted his own plan. He does not accept the criticisms that he failed to adhere to operational safety training, or that he ignored his training at all," the statement said. "Constable Rolfe was violently stabbed despite his polite and calm disposition, all of which is self-evident from the body worn video that he wore when this incident occurred … "Insofar as some may hold a view to the contrary, this was never about race." The NT Police Association said in a statement that its officers "do their best to respond, protect, and serve, while often knowing the root causes lie beyond their reach". "For years, commissioner after commissioner has introduced policies and training aimed at addressing these challenges and eliminating harmful attitudes within the force, specifically racism," the statement said. "Yet too often, these measures are not upheld or enforced." NT Police Acting Commissioner Martin Dole, meanwhile, responded to Mr Hargraves's claims that he had reneged on a planned meeting on Monday. "I'm sorry that Ned feels that way and I apologise that he feels that way," he said. "But I did have consultation with several of the elders and we thought it was best that that meeting take place in future days." Mr Hargraves said he remained disappointed in the commissioner and was "strongly against" him returning to the community. "I won't talk to him again, I won't ever talk to him. I don't want to," he said. First Nations people across the country felt the impact of the findings handed down on Monday. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss told News Breakfast the reality of deaths in custody affected many Indigenous families. "There isn't one Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person in the country that isn't touched by this experience, and it reflects on the fact that on any given day it could be any one of our children or grandchildren," she said. Since the landmark Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991, almost 600 First Nations people have died in custody, with 13 lives lost this year alone. In a statement, Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said Kumanjayi Walker's family and the wider Warlpiri-Luritja community had suffered a profound loss and were experiencing deep grief. "I acknowledge the important work of Coroner Armitage and encourage the Northern Territory Government to carefully review and consider the recommendations in full," she said. Shadow Indigenous Australians Minister Kerrynne Liddle told RN Breakfast she hoped the Northern Territory government would act on the coroner's calls for better community policing, youth and mental health supports. The federal government should also be held accountable, she said, noting the "significant" investment it makes into territory services and policing. Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe said Aboriginal deaths in custody were not unique to the Northern Territory and the federal government must be held accountable. "This is a national crisis, and as long as the federal government does nothing … they are complicit in these deaths," she said. On Tuesday, kids on school holidays were running around the basketball court in Yuendumu, unfazed by the glaring sun, their smiles wide as they sank in the hoops. Ms Fernandez-Brown echoed the coroner's calls for more of these Yapa-based community services. "Everything we do is for our people, it's to make sure the futures of our young people get to be safer, which is more relevant this week because it is NAIDOC week and we are looking to the future as well," she said. An internal police anti-racism strategy is expected to be released soon, but the Northern Territory government's review into racism in the NT police force, initiated by the former Labor government, was scrapped after the CLP won government last year. Kumanjayi Walker's family continue to call for a ban on guns worn by police officers surveilling Aboriginal communities, something the coroner said police should discuss with Yuendumu leadership. Senator Thorpe urged Northern Territory authorities to hear the family's wishes. "The family cannot be ignored here. To bring healing and some kind of justice, we must listen and adhere to what that community and that family needs," she said.
Canberra Times
08-07-2025
- Canberra Times
Inquest a litmus test for racism in police forces
A fortnight before the inquest findings were due to be delivered, another young Warlpiri man, 24-year-old Kumanjayi White from Yuendumu, was killed by police in May 2024. This set back the findings and reopened wounds endured by the Yuendumu community. Once again, the community has had to remobilise to campaign for justice. It has added to the sentiment of the community, which was expressed by Kumanjayi White's grandfather Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves: "we do not trust police".
The Guardian
06-07-2025
- The Guardian
‘No empty words': Kumanjayi Walker's family prepare for coroner's final report with call for ‘real action'
The inquest findings into the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker will be handed down in Yuendumu on Monday, almost five years after the Warlpiri man died during a bungled arrest in the remote Northern Territory community. Zachary Rolfe shot Walker three times while trying to arrest him on 9 November 2019 in Yuendumu, about 300km from Alice Springs. Walker, 19, stabbed Rolfe with a pair of scissors shortly before he was shot by the then constable three times. Rolfe was found not guilty in March 2022 of charges of murder and manslaughter relating to Walker's death. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email He has since been dismissed from the force for matters not directly related to the shooting. The inquest into Walker's death was expected to be completed two-and-a-half years earlier. Its delay has in part been due to legal challenges filed on behalf of Rolfe, including a failed bid for the NT coroner, Elisabeth Armitage, to recuse herself from the case, and wrangling over the scope of the inquest. Latterly, and tragically, the release of the findings was delayed by a month because of the death of another Warlpiri man in police custody, Kumanjayi White, who was a cousin of Walker. Armitage, senior counsel Peggy Dwyer SC, and instructor assisting Maria Walz, will all be involved in the White inquest, as they were in the three-year long Walker inquest. Rolfe's evidence before the inquest in February last year kicked off a series of revelations about racism within the NT police force, and again threatened to blow out the timeline for its findings to be delivered. Rolfe outlined a catalogue of racism within the ranks, including a racist awards night within its elite tactical unit. The evidence resulted in the then NT police commissioner, Michael Murphy, admitting he had 'gaslighted' Territorians. Walker's family said in a statement that they were calling for truth, accountability and justice, and believed that racism killed Walker. It said that it did not want NT police to travel to Yuendumu for the inquest findings with firearms. 'Kumanjayi's death has devastated our community. We miss him and feel his loss deeply every single day, it will stain our country for generations to come,' Walker's cousin, Samara Fernandez-Brown, said. 'The inquest into his death has been gruelling, shocking and devastating. Throughout it, our families and communities have stood strong, showed up and listened to all the ways that Kumanjayi was failed. 'We are heartbroken and exhausted after many long years, but we are hoping change is coming. We have faith that the truth will finally be told, and want to see real change so that we can finally start our healing.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, a senior Warlpiri elder and White's grandfather, said that NT police should not come to Yuendumu with guns. 'We are not interested in [acting commissioner] Martin Dole coming to Yuendumu just with empty words. If he is just coming to say sorry he is not welcome – how many times have they said sorry and still harmed us? 'During the inquest for Kumanjayi Walker we demanded no more guns in the community. If Dole comes with news of real change that would be different. If he said police would put down their guns like we wanted, yes, he would be welcome. 'Now, following the death in custody of my grandson Kumanjayi White, we have made additional demands: for an independent investigation and the release of CCTV footage, but police still deny us this, they are hiding the truth. We want real action, real justice, not more empty words.' Dole said in a statement released on 30 May that while he offered sincere condolences for the death of White, he respectfully rejected calls for an independent investigation. Those calls had also been made by NT senator Malarndirri McCarthy. 'This incident is being investigated by our Major Crime Division, which operates under strict protocols and with full transparency,' Dole said. 'The investigation will also be independently reviewed by the NT Coroner, who has broad powers to examine all aspects of the incident and make findings without interference.' Armitage is expected to hand down the findings about 10.45am NT time on Monday.
ABC News
24-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Children's commissioners urge federal youth justice reform ahead of First Nations conference in Alice Springs
The nation's major leaders, experts and community voices on First Nations justice will meet today in Alice Springs, amid growing calls for federal action on 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. Their discussions will include a focus on what children's commissioners are calling the "disturbing erosion of hard-won safeguards intended to shield Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from institutional harm" across Australia. The two-day meeting follows a series of changes around the country to youth justice, bail and policing pitched at community safety, which advocates say disproportionately affect First Nations adults and children. It also comes less than a month after Warlpiri man Kumanjayi White died in police custody after he was restrained on the floor of an Alice Springs supermarket. Mr White's death has prompted calls for an independent investigation and for federal action to prevent further deaths in custody, particularly of First Nations people. Mr White's grandfather, senior Warlpiri elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, has written to the prime minister requesting the Commonwealth withhold funding to the NT until it independently investigates his death and establishes a police integrity commission. He also supported calls for the federal government to implement all recommendations from the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Adult and youth justice in Australia are overseen by state and territory governments, but pressure has been growing for the federal government to play a greater role. Productivity Commission data shows Australia is not on track to meet its adult incarceration target under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, and the nation is going backwards on its youth incarceration targets. An independent, Indigenous-led review into Closing the Gap recently found "limited evidence that governments are making any systemic changes to meet [their] commitments". Ahead of the Alice Springs conference, a group of children's commissioners have urged the federal government to take "immediate action" to improve the states and territories' accountability for meeting those targets. The commissioners — who are part of the Australian and New Zealand Children's Commissioners, Guardians and Advocates (ANZCCGA) First Nations Caucus — also warned Australia is breaching its international obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. "These are not symbolic gestures. They are binding commitments," the group said in a statement. In just over the past year, the Victorian, Queensland, NSW and NT governments have each passed changes expanding the circumstances under which children and teenagers can be held in custody, with South Australia recently releasing a "young offender plan" highlighting potential areas for reform. The ANZCCGA commissioners have urged the federal government to enshrine Australia's obligations under the UN treaty into domestic law, urgently establish a national children's minister, and pass a human rights act. In a statement, conference organiser the Justice Reform Initiative said the annual event would discuss "evidence-based reform" to the justice system to improve community safety. "This conference represents the strong and diverse range of experience and expertise that policymakers can and should draw upon, instead of resorting to failed 'tough on crime' rhetoric and increasingly punitive legislation."
