First Nations murder Senate Committee told ‘racism is huge’ in WA

Police in one state have been accused of ‘absolute disrespect’ after they failed to appear before a Senate inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and children.

Western Australia’s Commissioner for Children and Young People says “racism is huge” in the state, and is the core problem behind issues negatively affecting Indigenous people.

Jacqueline McGowan-Jones gave evidence before the Senate inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children, which held a public hearing in Perth on Wednesday.

Asked about how racial bias and profiling fits into the wider social issues for Aboriginal communities, Ms McGowan-Jones, herself an Arrente/Warramungu woman, said “racism is huge.”

WA's Commissioner for Children and Young People Jacqueline McGowan-Jones fronted the Committee on Wednesday afternoon. Picture: Commissioner for Children and Young People / David Broadway

“When I moved to Geraldton, the racism there was worse than it was at Alice Springs. It was even worse out at Kalgoorlie,” she told the committee.

“That racism leads to people not feeling they can access service systems when they need support.”

Asked what can be done, she said there needed to be a greater focus on child and wellbeing strategies for mothers-to-be, and to make sure they had easy access to those strategies and services before their baby was born.

“We are funding the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff in everything we do,” Ms McGowan-Jones said.

“If we don’t start investing in the early ways … we will continue to need more police, more detention centres, more mental health units, we will see more suicides of our children … we are funding the wrong end of the system.”

The Senate inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children held at public hearing in Perth on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Ms McGowan-Jones also used figures to show the instance of First Nations children in out-of-home care has been steadily increasing.

“In Western Australia, 58.4 per cent of children in out-of-home care are Aboriginal,” Ms McGowan-Jones told the committee.

“When I was heading up that division in the Department for Child Protection and Family Support, as it was then known, it was 47 per cent. In 11 years, it’s grown 11 per cent.

“The first problem is we confuse poverty with neglect. The second problem is family and domestic violence because we remove children for emotional abuse.

“But mum might be the biggest protective factor in that child’s life, and so we rush to removal.

“Our kids feel like just because they're black, their life is doomed.”

POLICE SLAMMED FOR ‘ABSOLUTE DISRESPECT’

Earlier, the Senators hosting the an inquiry blasted WA Police for their failure to attend the Perth hearing.

Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs Deputy Chair Senator Paul Scarr opened proceedings on Wednesday morning by outlining numerous attempts to have a WA Police representative front the hearing in person.

“As a Committee, we are very disappointed the WA Police Force has declined repeated requests to meet,” he said.

The Committee wrote to WA Police in August to request a representative attend, but they were denied.

The Committee tried again in September, pointing out that NSW Police counterparts have already given evidence. Again, the request was declined.

“In justifying their refusal to appear, (WA Police) referred to the fact there were different state-based agencies which acted as checks and balances with respect to the performance of their duties,” Senator Carr said.

“However, the performance of these agencies, and the interaction between WA Police and these agencies, had been a matter which had been discussed in evidence provided to this Committee.

“These were areas which we … wanted to pursue with WA Police … (and) their failure to attend has denied us that opportunity.”

The Committee also wrote to WA Police Minister Paul Papalia in September in another effort to have the police force attend the hearing but, again, the request was rejected.

Queensland LNP Senator Paul Scarr is Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. Source: Supplied

WA Senator Dorinda Cox criticised the decision by the state’s police force.

“WA Police in this state are still a public service; they are not above scrutiny,” Senator Cox said.

“We do consider this an absolute disrespect from WA Police to not show up for families today to answer the questions they have around why they didn’t receive an adequate response or service in relation to their family member.

“It is a disservice on behalf of WA Police … stop batting off your responsibility as a law enforcement agency.”

WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch appeared on ABC radio on Wednesday, where he said his organisation had submitted an “extensive report” to the inquiry, which touched on racism and bias within the Force.

“We’re not always going to get it right – we go to 60,000 calls a year of domestic violence,” Mr Blanch said.

“We also have 70,000 calls of welfare checks and often they are also domestic violence related.

“The way WA Police deals with particularly women in a domestic violence situation today is night and day from … when I was a constable when there was no training and there was no scrutiny and there was no oversight.”

Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) chief executive Emma Johnson was first to front the Perth hearing, where she was grilled over reviews and investigations into complaints made against police.

WA Greens Senator Dorinda Cox said WA Police are not above scrutiny. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

She revealed the watchdog receives about 7000 allegations each year, but they only carried out 58 investigations last financial year — a rate of less than one per cent.

“That’s a matter of both the way we’re established, and also a matter of resourcing,” Ms Johnson said.

She noted data is limited but estimated about eight per cent of the complaints about police conduct received by the CCC over the last few years involved First Nations people.

Representatives from WA’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Women‘s Legal Service WA, and the National Justice Project will also gave evidence during Wednesday’s proceedings.