Commissioner Michael Murphy admits unintentionally misleading public about racist awards
The Police Commissioner said he knew about the awards six months earlier but denied withholding the information due to concern about a threat to ‘go public’ with allegations against him.
Northern Territory
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Michael Murphy has admitted unintentionally misleading the public when he denied knowing about racist internal awards six months after he was told about them, saying “I should have reported it” earlier.
The NT Police Commissioner was the final witness on Wednesday at an inquest into the police shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker during a bungled arrest in Yuendumu in 2019.
Mr Murphy told the court he first learned of the “c--n of the year” awards from ex-cop Carey Joy at a meeting in August last year that also included Alice Springs anti-crime activist Darren Clark.
He said Mr Joy had reached out “almost like an olive branch to stop (publicly) attacking the police”, telling him about the awards handed out by members of the force’s elite Territory Response Group.
“I asked some more questions about what actually were they and he explained in more detail about the A4 sheets of paper handed out at parties, I had no knowledge of the existence of the awards at that time,” he said.
Mr Murphy agreed with counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer SC it was “immediately obvious to you that that was blatantly racist” but he “didn’t treat it with the seriousness I should have” and “regrettably” took no further action.
“He was disaffected, there was a number of challenges in his life, I had to question the reliability of it,” he said.
Mr Murphy said he was also busy with high-level government meetings, the fallout from the death of a US Marine in the Territory and major bushfires and denied lying to journalists about it after the revelations emerged at the inquest in February.
“I knew about the TRG awards because they came out in the inquest but I didn’t draw a link or remember, obviously, the link back to the August meeting,” he said.
“I should have delegated that and I should have actioned it and I should have reported it to professional standards command.”
Dr Dwyer said the meeting also followed threats made by Mr Joy, captured on body-worn camera footage and circulated among serving police, to “go public” with allegations Mr Murphy had made racist comments towards staff at a Chinese restaurant.
“I’ll go hard, I was with Murphy when he called people in a restaurant, your not serving us because of f--king Vietnam, we got thrown out, I’ll go public with that, so you can drop this little thing,” Mr Joy said on the recording.
But Mr Murphy denied being “concerned about adverse publicity or embarrassment towards yourself if it got out”.
“I don’t think I was overly worried about it, I think it was courteous of Mr Joy to let me know, I should have actioned it, I should have reported it, especially the TRG awards,” he said.
Meanwhile outside court, Mr Walker’s cousin Samara Fernandez-Brown said the certificates were “blatantly racist” and rejected assertions from some witnesses at the inquiry there was any “separation between racist language and being a racist”.
“It’s just unfathomable that they existed for so long and that it was just a fun joke to blow off some steam to be able to poke fun at and to make Aboriginal people the butt of the joke,” she said.
Ms Fernandez-Brown said hearing Mr Rolfe give evidence earlier in the week that he was “bored” by the proceeding was “horrific”.
“It’s just, frankly, extremely disrespectful in terms of our family’s experience, none of us want to be here, we would much rather Kumanjayi be alive and not have to go through a whole inquest,” she said.
“We would much rather the life of our loved one than to be in this process, it’s exhausting for all of us.”
In closing proceedings for the final time, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage thanked Mr Walker’s family members, the Warlpiri and Luritja Elders and the lawyers for the various interested parties.
“Finally, I thank my counsel assisting team for their courage to listen widely, investigate deeply and their willingness to challenge the status quo,” she said.
“Findings will be handed down in due course.”
Rolfe challenges police to ‘say sorry’ as Murphy enters witness box
Former NT Police constable Zach Rolfe has challenged the force to either prove he botched the fatal arrest of Kumanjayi Walker in 2019 or apologise, as the Territory’s top cop prepares to take the stand.
Mr Rolfe faced questioning by NT Police barrister Ian Freckelton KC on Tuesday in his final day of evidence at an inquest into the 19-year-old Warlpiri-Luritja man’s shooting death in house 511 in Yuendumu.
Mr Rolfe was later acquitted on all charges following a Supreme Court trial in 2022.
“You’ve had the opportunity to think about your own conduct and you’ve said what you’ve learned in that regard and you’ve had the opportunity to reflect on the suffering of Kumanjayi’s family and of the community,” Dr Freckelton said.
“You’ve heard many of the things that have been said by representatives of that family, (is there) anything you want to communicate to them, anything further?”
Mr Rolfe responded by saying he was “sorry for the trauma that they’ve gone through” and “that it’s been multiplied over the last few years”, saying “I believe they will be unable to move forward”.
“If I was in their shoes, I would be unable to move forward until certain things are clarified,” he said.
“There are two things that are occurring in regard to me, my situation, that I could not come to terms with, if I was a member of the family.
“One is that the message I believe they’ve received is that I’ve done the wrong thing in that room, that I have unlawfully killed Kumanjayi.
“That is, (Senior Sergeant) Andrew Barram, (NT Police’s) use of force expert’s evidence, which still seems to be supported by the police force, (while) at the same time the police have finalised the investigation into that shooting with an email to me with remedial advice.”
Mr Rolfe said if he was a member of Mr Walker’s community “I could never move forward with that” because “those two facts cannot coexist”.
“So I believe it must be horrible for them, until one of those is established as the truth, then they will be unable to move forward,” he said.
“One of those has to be wrong, if I’ve unlawfully killed Kumanjayi Walker and I received an email with remedial advice, that is not just.
“If I did not unlawfully kill Kumanjayi Walker, then the police must say ‘Andrew Barram was wrong and we are sorry for that’ or somehow tell them that they believe that I did and that the email is the response that I got.”
At the conclusion of Mr Rolfe’s evidence, barrister for the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency Phillip Boulten SC gave coroner Elisabeth Armitage his own assessment of the comments.
“The transcript only captures a certain amount of what goes on in court, but for the record, after the witness gave that answer, he turned to the back of the court and nodded sagely to somebody in the back of the court, as if to say ‘there it is’”, he said.
When later asked directly by counsel assisting the coroner, Peggy Dwyer SC, whether if police were “critical still of your actions in house 511, then you should have been subject to more than remedial advice after the trial”.
Mr Rolfe replied “most definitely”.
“If the police are of the view that I unlawfully killed Kumanjayi Walker or used excessive force and they believe that’s the case and they can prove that with their evidence, then remedial advice would surely not be the right outcome,” he said.
The inquest is expected to conclude on Wednesday with Police Commissioner Michael Murphy due to be the final witness.
Zach Rolfe defends ‘murderer’ joke about killing of Aboriginal man
Zach Rolfe has defended joking about he and Ben Roberts-Smith being “murderers and war criminals” and told a court he may have struck a drunk man in the head out of “fear”.
The former NT Police constable resumed his evidence in the Alice Springs Local Court this week at an inquest into the death of Warlpiri-Luritja man Kumanjayi Walker, who he fatally shot in 2019.
Mr Rolfe was acquitted on all charges by a Supreme Court jury in 2022.
Barrister for the Parumpurru Committee of Yuendumu, Julian McMahon SC, played Mr Rolfe some of his body-worn video showing him striking a drunk Aboriginal man to the head outside Lasseters Casino weeks before the shooting.
“I suggest to you that it’s very clear, Mr Rolfe, in that video, that you just punched him in the head with your left hand?” Mr McMahon asked.
“I disagree,” Mr Rolfe replied.
“I may have given him a slap.”
Mr McMahon asked Mr Rolfe if he agreed “there was no lawful excuse for striking him in the head” after the man banged his hand down on a police car bonnet but Mr Rolfe said he “would need greater context”.
“I would need to look further into the job,” he said.
“It could have been a fear-based reaction, which there’s discretion in the law for a fear-based reaction, if you are in fear, that strike to the car, may have caused me to have a fear-based reaction and react in the way that I did.”
Mr McMahon also asked Mr Rolfe about a photo posted to social media of him and disgraced former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith under which he commented “just a couple of cops/murderers and war criminals Havin (sic) a lovely afternoon in the sun”.
Mr Rolfe agreed the reference to “murderers” was him “making a joke about myself” and that he had been contacted by the media for a response but did not offer an apology.
“The reference to me making a joke about that was the fact I’d been called or treated like that,” he said.
“It was just a joke.”
Mr McMahon asked whether “laughing about being called a murderer reveals, contrary to the evidence that you’ve given so far, a deep disrespect for those who have suffered as a result of this killing”.
“I don’t think so, I can see how it’s taken that way,” Mr Rolfe replied.
“I think people will be able to become offended by things that I say regardless of what is said or the intention behind it.
“I have dealt with the sadness of taking Kumanjayi’s life, I believe, I’ve dealt with it after the initial shooting, but I refuse to wallow in it, if I need to laugh rather than cry I will laugh.”
The inquest continues.
’C--n of the year’ winner ‘believed awards would lead to violence’: Inquest
A former member of NT Police’s elite tactical unit and winner of its “c--n of the year award” did not mention it in evidence because he believed it would lead to violence, an inquest has heard.
Sergeant Lee Bauwens, nicknamed Burner, returned to the witness box on Monday for the inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker, where he admitted to taking home the ‘nooguda award’ in 2012 and coming runner up in 2007.
“On the job at Litchfield Court, Nightcliff, after three hours in full kit, having worked up a bit of a sweat,” the 2007 citation reads.
“Burner refused to have a shower and went home and climbed into bed with the Mrs in the same state, couldn’t understand why she gave him the knock back when he got all amorous.”
Sergeant Bauwens said the award was instigated after a search in the remote Central Australian community of Willowra a year earlier, after which an officer “displayed some fairly average hygiene”.
He told the inquest the “link” between the name of the award – a made up Aboriginal word – and poor hygiene was that “some Indigenous have poor hygiene” and it was an example of “dark humour”.
“It’s where we find things which are offensive, we can see the funny side of it, things that are unpleasant, things which most people don’t deal with,” he said.
“We pull the funny side out of it, it’s obviously inappropriate but it’s one aspect of dealing with what we’re doing.”
Counsel assisting the coroner Patrick Coleridge asked Sergeant Bauwens whether his 2007 citation indicated “a very negative connection is being drawn between your behaviour — unhygienic, potentially sexually inappropriate — and Aboriginal people in general”.
But he said “I think the link’s pretty weak”.
“I relate it to having a go at, obviously me, the only link would be that it’s the nooguda and the link of what we’ve already spoken about.”
Mr Coleridge also showed Sergeant Bauwens an image of the 2015 award certificate, featuring a minstrel show performer in blackface, asking whether it was “an overtly racist image”
“It’s a member dressed up as a black and white minstrel which is fairly inappropriate these days,” Sergeant Bauwens replied.
“Is blackface racist?” Mr Coleridge asked.
“I don’t know, is it?” Sergeant Bauwens responded.
“You have to put it in context, I really don’t know anymore, depending on the context it’s put it in, dressing up and things, not too sure, I’ve only seen that award I have no idea of the background of it.
“I think we all know that the nooguda awards are racist, if that’s the reference between the blackface … then I say yes it is racist and I understand that it is.”
When Mr Coleridge asked Sergeant Bauwens why he hadn’t mentioned the awards when questioned about his use of a racist slur in a text message previously, he said “in some respects I should have” but “it was in the past”.
“I believed it had no effect on what we were investigating here, I also believed that it would have a detrimental effect on the police force,” he said.
“I also believed it would have a detrimental effect on the police members and the way they did their job and how they were treated and I honestly believed it would cause conflict within the community.
“And when I speak of conflict, it means one of two things — violence and people being locked up and I don’t believe that was the way forward.”
The inquest continues on Tuesday when Zach Rolfe will continue his evidence.
Police Commissioner ‘alerted to racist TRG awards months before inquest’
Police Commissioner Michael Murphy was alerted to racist awards within the force’s elite tactical unit five months before the explosive allegations were made public, a court has heard.
In March, former constable Zach Rolfe told an inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker Territory Response Group members had handed out “c--n of the year awards” to its members for years.
In response, Mr Murphy denied NT Police had a problem with systemic racism, while vowing to stamp out “pockets” of bad behaviour.
But when the inquest resumed in Alice Springs on Monday, counsel assisting the coroner, Peggy Dwyer SC, told the court former TRG officer Carey Joy had provided a statement in which he claimed to have revealed “the existence of the ‘nooguda’ awards” to Mr Murphy in a meeting in August last year.
In arguing for much of the statement not to be admitted, Dr Dwyer said it consisted of “bare opinion, presented very late and in circumstances where Mr Joy does not have all the relevant evidence”.
“(But) that is very different to the evidence that he gives about a direct conversation that he had with the current Commission of Police and another person on the 31st of August, 2023, to discuss certain issues, including the ‘nooguda’ awards,” she said.
“He goes on to say that he gave the Commissioner of Police certain advice, including that he should make contact with Senior Sergeant (Shaun) Gill to get the background and deal with the issues in the case if it was to be raised in the inquest.
“Mr Murphy inquired what form the awards were and he clarified the form of the awards … as A4 certificates etc, including one he had actually seen with the actual Aboriginal flag.
“He also informed Mr Murphy that potentially 100 odd people may have certificate copies, pictures of them, videos of presentation, evidence of the ‘nooguda’ club etc.”
In opposing the document’s tender, NT Police barrister Ian Freckelton KC described Mr Joy as “a disgruntled former member” and “a self-appointed activist who wishes to promote the cause of Zachary Rolfe”.
Dr Freckelton said the statement consisted of “at least second hand hearsay” which “seems to be of a kind of insinuation and innuendo which Mr Joy wishes to peddle to this court”.
“That should not be indulged by a person who is a busybody, he’s a former member of the police force, he has the recollections no doubt fading with the passage of in excess of a decade.
“We certainly do not propose that he be brought here to give evidence, to give him the pedestal which he appears to have been yearning for for many years now.
“Whatever information he does have, it’s extremely dated and it’s jaundiced from a desire to be an advocate for Mr Rolfe.”
But counsel for the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, Phillip Boulten SC, said police had already tendered “a range of statements” from senior officers denying any cultural problem existed, prior to further revelations in a statement published by the Territory’s corruption watchdog last week.
“The immediate response of the NT Police was to have the Commissioner of Police stand up in public the next day and essentially to deny that there were any such attitudes,” he said.
“There will be a concerted effort by the police to suggest that it’s just the odd one or two bad apples who have held these views, irrespective of Mr Joy’s motives, and irrespective of the legitimate criticism that Dr Freckelton made about him just now, there is a degree of force in what he has to say.”
Mr Boulten said some parts of the statement were “unfair”, including a “scandalous” reference to a Territory politician, and “might not be accepted and may be carved out entirely”.
“(But) there’s a picture that has been painted of police who accept that it’s fine to talk in a racist way in private but that it has no impact on the way in which they carry out their public duties as police officers,” he said.
The inquest continues.
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