WARNING: Readers may find this story distressing
A senior police officer in a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory has been accused of suggesting Aboriginal people should "stop breeding".
The allegation was part of Leanne Liddle's testimony to the coronial inquest into the 2019 shooting death of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu.
Fronting the court, the Central Arrernte woman and Director of the Northern Territory Aboriginal Justice Unit said she had seen "so many examples of systemic racism in the NT Police Force".
She referenced an interaction she had with a senior sergeant of a remote police station while consulting for the Aboriginal Justice Agreement. She had asked the Sgt about what he believed the answer would be for "reducing incarceration of Aboriginal people".
She said in the presence of a junior officer the Sgt suggested that the "only hope mob have is to stop breeding for the next 10 to 15 years".
Ms Liddle said she flagged that she did not want to see this officer "working in an Aboriginal community again".
"But to my surprise, this officer was transferred to another Aboriginal community with a promotion - and then they told me as I had signed off on it there could be no further action - only for that officer to turn up again in another Aboriginal community when I was doing a consult some 10 months later," she said.
Devastating is an 'understatement'
Ms Liddle, who was the NT Australian of the Year of 2022, described her time consulting for the Agreement as "one of the most depressing and saddest experiences" of her life.
"I was devastated to see the fear and despair and hopelessness in the faces and voices of Aboriginal people, young, old, men, women and children in so many communities and towns," she said.
“Describing it as ‘devastating’, is an understatement. I knew and thought we would hear issues about police and poor practice, but I can’t recall any community who told me what was working, let alone what service provider was delivering a program that worked.
“People told us that they thought that the treatment and responses they received by police specifically would not happen if they were non-Aboriginal. People told us that they felt they were made to feel like they were sub-human. That they were treated differently because of their skin colour.”
'Police didn't respect them'
Mr Walker was fatally shot by Constable Zachary Rolfe in a home in Yuendemu during a botched arrest in November of 2019. In March of 2022, Const Rolfe was found not guilty of murder, manslaughter and the charge of engaging in a violent act causing death.
Less than a year after Mr Walker's death, Ms Liddle visited Yuendemu following his funeral.
“The crowd talked about how they used to work well with the police in the past, but things had changed. I spoke to individuals about how this had changed they said that they didn’t have the relationship that they once had in the ‘old days’ with police and how now, the police didn’t respect them.”
An officer can be seen with an AR15 assault rifle in the remote NT community of Yuendumu. The senior officer who sent the group, known as the Immediate Response Team, said such weapons were inappropriate.
Addressing systemic racism
Ms Liddle said that addressing systemic racism could have led to a different version of events including not wearing "exposed firearms", police having respect for the "cultural requirements of Kumanjayi Walker and requests from community" and an understanding of "cognitive disability" and "FASD symptoms".
“If systemic racism was addressed, police officers would not have brought the Territory Response Group (TRG) into the community in response to a local police respite call as this was not an appropriate team to bring to Yuendemu," she said.
Ms Liddle noted that addressing systemic racism will allow ABoriginal people and communities to "engage with police and governments services" safely.
"They would then have a voice, which would empower them to be heard and to work with government and police to build, retain or restore a safe community," she said.
Rolfe to be retired
Meanwhile, NT police assistant commissioner Bruce Porter on Monday told the inquest that Constable Rolfe, had been issued with a notice of the intention to stand him down from duty.
Mr Porter said that the decision to retire Const Rolfe had been made on the basis of two psychological assessments and a risk assessment from December and January.
"We were of the opinion that he had the inability to continue as a member of the police force," he said.
The inquest continues.
If you have found this story upsetting, call 13 YARN (13 92 76) or reach out to your local Aboriginal Medical Service.
