602 Indigenous Deaths in Custody Since the Royal Commission: A Grim Reality

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Warning: this article includes the names of Aboriginal people who have passed and distressing content.

When Senator Lidia Thorpe first entered Parliament she carried a message stick with 441 notches on it – each marking the death in custody of a First Nations person since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody.

Today, five years later, she carried that same message stick into the Senate.

It has 602 notches.

The Parliament today supported a motion from Senator Thorpe calling for urgent national action on the crisis of First Nations deaths in custody, following the passing of 24-year-old Kumanjayi White in Mparntwe/Alice Springs in May.

“Kumanjayi White should be alive today,” the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman said.

“He was a young, disabled man who needed care and support, not restraint and force. His death is a national shame.

“We are in the middle of a crisis. First Peoples continue to die in custody at horrifying rates.

“There have been at least 17 deaths this year alone and still no government has fully implemented the Royal Commission’s recommendations after more than three decades.”

Senator Thorpe’s motion followed the release of the latest Closing the Gap data overnight, which shows rates of incarceration and suicide of First Peoples continue to worsen.

“This motion extends the Senate’s deepest sympathies to his family, to the Yuendumu community, to the families of the 17 First Peoples who have died in custody this year, and to the families of all those who have died since the 1991 Royal Commission,” she said.

These are not just statistics; they are sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, cousins, siblings, grandchildren – lost to a system that continues to harm our people.

Her motion received support from crossbench and Labor parliamentarians in both the Senate and House of Representatives and Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Senator Kerrynne Liddle.

Labor Senator Murray Watt said it was unacceptable that 602 First Nations people had died in custody since the royal commission.

“The royal commission was clear that the best way to reduce First Nations deaths in custody is to reduce the high incarceration rate of First Nations people, including through social and economic responses, which the evidence shows can reduce crime, change the course of lives, and avoid people coming into contact with the police or justice system in the first place,” he said.

“This is what the Commonwealth Government is focusing on, including through the national agreement on Closing the Gap.”

Senator Watt said the Albanese Government was investing in First Nations-led justice reinvestment initiatives (where money that would be spent on prisons is, instead, invested in early intervention and diversionary programs) and called on the states and territories to do more.

Senator Liddle and Senator Watt both extended condolences to Kumanjayi White’s family and Yuendumu community.

“His grieving family deserve answers,” Senator Liddle said.

“Australians, too, deserve answers.

“The recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody released in 1991 outlined what needed to be done.

“Indigenous Australians were disproportionately incarcerated, and they were also over represented in deaths in custody.

“The Royal Commission report was a blueprint for change.

“Change then was necessary; 34 years later, the job is still not done.”

Greens Leader Larissa Waters and independent Senator David Pocock also both spoke in favour of Senator Thorpe’s motion.

“We stand in solidarity with the Yuendumu and Warlpiri communities,” Senator Waters said.

“We join their calls for justice, and we echo the family’s demand for an independent investigation, for the officers involved to be stood down, for the release of CCTV and body camera footage, and for the Northern Territory police to apologise for and cease publicly criminalising Kumanjayi White in their statements.”

Senator Thorpe called for unity and said the issue of First Nations deaths in custody was not about politics but about compassion.

“The families of those who’ve died at the hands of the system need justice, not excuses,” she said.

“They need truth, accountability, and support to navigate a legal system that continues to fail us.

“Ending deaths in custody – which are this country’s great shame – must be a priority for this Labor government, they have the power to act now.”

Senator Thorpe said, while the support for her motion across the Parliament was encouraging, it must be backed up with action.

“First Peoples have waited 34 years since the royal commission for action,” she said.

“Together, we can get this done.”