Category Archives: Indigenous Australians

Former senior NT police officer tells inquest failure to probe complaints of excessive use of force was ‘corrupt’

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NT police service ‘needs to be able to deal with badness in itself’, coronial inquiry into police shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker told

A former senior Northern Territory police officer has told the Kumanjayi Walker inquest that the force’s failure to adequately investigate excessive use of force complaints was corrupt.

Former assistant commissioner, Nick Anticich, told the coronial inquiry into the shooting death of Walker in 2019 that the failure to adequately investigate alleged incidents in Alice Springs was “wrong and shouldn’t have happened”.

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Indigenous advocates call for ban on unmuzzled police dogs in WA as ‘disturbing pattern’ emerges

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Push comes after 13-year-old Noongar boy left ‘traumatised’ and needing skin grafts following mauling in Perth

Western Australia police have been urged to stop using unmuzzled dogs, as the state’s Aboriginal Legal Service raises concerns about the “disproportionate” number of canine-assisted arrests involving First Nations people.

The ALSWA said it was supporting the family of 13-year-old Noongar boy Jayden Abraham, who was hospitalised and needed surgery after being mauled by a police dog during an incident in Perth earlier this month.

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Inquest into death of Aboriginal man Stanley Russell shown disturbing footage of moment he was shot by police

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Graphic footage showed police shooting Russell at least five times in a house in Sydney’s west in November 2021

A New South Wales court has seen graphic footage of police shooting an Aboriginal man at least five times in the “obstructed tunnel” of a narrow hallway of a house in Sydney’s west, during an attempted arrest in November 2021.

Gomeroi man Stanley Russell, 45, was shot dead by police in his aunt’s home in western Sydney on 9 November 2021, after they had come to arrest him on an outstanding warrant.

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Mother of Aboriginal man injured in apparent vigilante attack condemns Facebook abuse

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Kathy Penny calls on social media companies to put a stop to ‘hatred and revenge’ following comments about her son

A Noongar woman whose teenage son was seriously injured in an apparent vigilante attack says she has been threatened and abused online, but has urged supporters not to retaliate.

Kathy Penny’s 18-year-old son, Ronaldo, was left in a critical condition when a 49-year-old woman chased him and his friend through Perth’s northern suburbs after it was alleged they had stolen a motorcycle. The woman has pleaded guilty to charges of driving dangerously and causing aggravated grievous bodily harm.

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News live updates: Medibank, Optus among companies shunning privacy law hearing in ‘collective failure of corporate Australia’

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Greens senator David Shoebridge has criticised notable absences at a Senate committee looking at privacy laws today. Follow the day’s news live

ADF personnel to help in NSW as government works on dedicated disaster workforce

Murray Watt is asked about a permanent disaster workforce to assist during national disasters and their clean-up, given the pressure put on the defence force.

The ADF does certainly play a role, particularly in the recovery phase. And just yesterday we activated more defence forces to go into western New South Wales to assist so over the next couple of days, we expect to see 200 defence force personnel helping there to top up these state-based services. But the reality is all of this is putting a huge amount of pressure, whether it be on those state-based services or the ADF. And that’s why in this budget, we committed over $30m to a volunteer veteran organisation called Disaster Relief Australia to sort of top up the kind of services that are available for communities, particularly in that clean-up phase.

But we’re going to be keeping on doing some work on this about what we need to put in place as a country to supplement the ADF and I’d be hopeful that we might be able to bring that to a conclusion around about the budget next year.

There’s insurance costs so let alone the huge damage bill that individuals are going to be incurring themselves.

So I think everyone is unfortunately going to be having to put their hands in their pockets for for this unfolding event that just won’t go away.

So even if we weren’t to get any more rain, we’re going to be looking at even more damage from the existing flood waters. And, as I say, I think we’re likely to see more. We’ve also got to remember that we haven’t yet seen the cyclone season start whether that be in north Queensland, Western Australia or Northern Territory. So unfortunately I haven’t got a lot of good news for people except for the fact that there is unlikely to be a lot of rain over the next couple of days. So that’s a good thing.

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Queensland watch house whistleblower labelled ‘dog’ in Facebook group for police

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Exclusive: current and former officers appear to be involved in the conversation about the whistleblower on a private group

A Queensland police whistleblower who leaked audio recordings of officers using racist and violent language has been called a “rat” and a “dog” in a private Facebook group for police officers.

The QPS has apologised for the “sickening and disturbing” Brisbane city watch house recordings – which included comments that black people should be beaten and buried – and said the incidents are being investigated.

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Leaked audio reveals cultural problems in Queensland police force, human rights commissioner says

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Scott McDougall calls for independent scrutiny of police after recordings reveal racist and violent language at Brisbane watch house

Queensland’s human rights commissioner, Scott McDougall, says “clear” and “pervasive” cultural problems are plaguing the state’s police force after leaked audio revealed violent and racist conversations by Queensland police staff.

Police service officers at the Brisbane city police watch house can be heard using racist slurs and offensive language while working in the holding cells, referring to Nigerians as “jigaboos”, and raising fears that Australia “will be fucking taken over” in a series of leaked tapes published by the Guardian Australia on Sunday.

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NT federal Labor MP says families need to be more accountable for youth crime

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State proposal to take unsupervised children off Alice Springs streets a ‘Band-Aid solution’ that will fail, Marion Scrymgour says

Federal Labor MP Marion Scrymgour says a Northern Territory government plan to take unsupervised children off the streets at night is “putting a Band-Aid on the situation” and she is calling for traditional owners “to show leadership on the issue”.

Scrymgour has raised concerns about the proposal in which children undertaking “risky” behaviour in Alice Springs at night would be taken into custody for assessment, and removed from their families if they are found to be continuously unsupervised.

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New child removal protections passed but NSW minister says more can be done to end Indigenous ‘over representation’

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Exclusive: Further changes to new legislation requiring social workers to prove they have made ‘active efforts’ to keep families together will be considered in a year

The minister responsible for child services in New South Wales says she wants to do more to address the “over representation” of Aboriginal children removed from their families, acknowledging the community’s frustration at the slow pace of reform.

On Thursday, the government passed a new bill that requires social workers to prove they have made “active efforts” to keep families together before courts can approve the removal of children from their parents.

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Remains of 18 Indigenous people held by UK museums return to Australia

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Return is part of painstaking effort to recover thousands of ancestors stolen from traditional lands who now lie in more than 20 countries

The remains of 18 Indigenous people have been returned to Australia by two British museums, part of the laborious and painstaking effort to recover thousands of ancestors stolen from their traditional lands which now lie in more than 20 countries around the world.

At midnight Australia time on Wednesday, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum returned 17 ancestors to the custodianship of the federal government, which will hold them while further research is undertaken “to determine the traditional custodians”. Another was given to the custodianship of the south-east First Nations people of South Australia, who were represented by Robyn Campbell.

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Indigenous voice referendum should be sooner rather than later, Uluru statement co-chairs say

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Pat Anderson and Prof Megan Davis urge Labor to not waste momentum and call on the media to ‘rise to this occasion’

The Uluru Statement from the Heart co-chair Pat Anderson has urged the federal government to not waste “momentum” for the Indigenous voice to parliament, calling for a referendum on the constitutional change sooner rather than later.

Anderson said the national vote could occur in October 2023, the most recently proposed of many mooted dates, as she called for the nation’s media to “rise to this occasion” in reporting on Indigenous constitutional recognition.

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Queensland eases alcohol restrictions for Cape York community amid trend away from prohibition

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Equivalent of 12 cans of mid-strength beer can be carried in Pormpuraaw, leaving just five ‘dry’ communities

Queensland has taken another step towards ending its prohibition on alcohol in remote Indigenous communities, with restrictions being eased in Pormpuraaw, on Cape York.

The community of about 600 people on the western coast of Cape York is among 15 local government areas in Queensland where alcohol is restricted and was among a handful in which it was banned entirely.

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‘Not fit for purpose’: government looks to amend ‘antiquated’ referendum laws ahead of voice vote

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Linda Burney says government will propose changes to modernise the century-old act before the end of the year

A leading constitutional expert says Australia’s century-old laws around referendums are “not fit for purpose”, suggesting the government could look to amend rules around donations, funding disclosures and social media advertising before the voice to parliament vote.

Linda Burney, the minister for Indigenous Australians, said the government would propose changes to “modernise” the Referendum Act before the end of the year, and promised a civics campaign and more information about the voice campaign in early 2023.

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Australia news live: Ed Husic says government must intervene in gas market; Pocock backs fossil fuels super profits tax

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Industry minister says gas companies are ‘not picking up the signals’. Follow all the day’s news live

Gas supply not a problem, ‘glut of greed is’, industry minister says

Husic:

This is not a shortage of supply problem; this is a glut of greed problem, that has to be basically short-circuited and common sense prevail.

The pricing mechanism is the one that I think needs to be seriously examined.

The LNG exporters are offering gas to the domestic market at prices they couldn’t reasonably expect on the international market.

We have the ACCC looking at that [code of conduct] and that code of conduct is to help better guide the way in which these contracts get negotiated … in terms of the other areas, we want to work through that internally.

If you look at what the treasurer has said over the last few days, he is examining those type of options and again that will be in the mix of things he thinks through.

I think the bigger focus long-term is the price mechanism.

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Zachary Rolfe bragged about injuring innocent man, Kumanjayi Walker inquest told

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‘Treated him to the old illegal shoulder charge,’ Northern Territory police officer wrote in text message, inquiry hears

A Northern Territory police officer who fatally shot Kumanjayi Walker bragged about injuring a man wrongly suspected of escaping custody, an inquest has heard.

Walker, 19, died after Constable Zachary Rolfe shot him three times during a botched arrest in Yuendumu, north-west of Alice Springs, on 9 November 2019.

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‘Don’t run from police’: Zachary Rolfe boasted to mother about injuring suspect, inquest told

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NT inquiry into death of Kumanjayi Walker in 2019 hears Rolfe separately bragged to paramedic he ‘mashed some dude’s face against a wall’

A Northern Territory police officer who shot and killed Kumanjayi Walker bragged to his mother about injuring another man wrongly suspected of escaping custody, an inquest has heard.

Kumanjayi Walker, 19, died after Const Zachary Rolfe shot him three times during a botched arrest in Yuendumu, north-west of Alice Springs, in November 2019.

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Cassius Turvey’s mother urges calm at vigils saying she is angry but ‘violence breeds violence’

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Mechelle Turvey says ‘outpouring of tributes across the nation has been so appreciated’ after her son was allegedly murdered

The mother of schoolboy Cassius Turvey, allegedly murdered in Perth, has called for calm ahead of nationwide vigils to honour her son who she says was the “heart and soul” of the local community.

A 21-year-old man has been charged with the Indigenous teenager’s murder after the alleged attack on 13 October when Cassius and several of his friends were walking home from school in Middle Swan.

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Zachary Rolfe ‘humiliated’ Indigenous teen in violent arrest before Walker shooting, inquest told

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Video from Rolfe’s body-worn camera shows him approach wheelie bin with 14-year-old hiding inside before slamming lid and pulling bin to ground

The Northern Territory police officer who shot and killed Kumanjayi Walker was involved in an earlier arrest of another Indigenous youth that was allegedly violent and humiliating, an inquest has been told.

The inquiry into the death of 19-year-old Walker – who was shot during a bungled arrest in Yuendumu in 2019 – was played a video on Tuesday of Const Zachary Rolfe detaining a 14-year-old boy in 2018.

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Construction of First Nations cultural centre in SA halted amid budget blowout

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Initially slated for 2025 at a cost of $200m, the Tarrkarri project is now $50m over budget and will be reviewed early next year

Work on Tarrkarri, slated as “the world’s leading First Nations cultural centre”, has been suspended amid cost blowouts.

The construction of Tarrkarri, which means “the future” in Kaurna, began in December 2021 in Adelaide, and it was due to open in 2025.

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Growing prison populations in Australia are costing $4.2bn a year despite falling crime rates, Labor says

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Government would have saved $2.6bn if incarceration rate had remained at 1985 level, assistant treasury minister Andrew Leigh says

Taxpayers are each forking out $140 more a year for prisons than would be needed if Australia maintained its 1985 rates of incarceration, according to Andrew Leigh.

The assistant treasury minister will reveal the cost of Australia’s rising incarceration rates in a speech to the Australian Institute of Criminology on Monday.

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