Fatal shooting leaves a lot of questions to be answered

THE fatal shooting of Kumanjayi Walker by police has left a family devastated, a community in shock, a police officer with stab wounds and a lot of questions to be answered

Why are the Territory’s communities left behind when it comes to the services the more centralised populations in larger cities take for granted?

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NEARLY 300km north west of Alice Springs the fatal shooting of Kumanjayi Walker by police has left a family devastated, a community in shock, a police officer with stab wounds and a lot of asking why and how this happened.

But beneath the surface of the incident itself lies a bigger question.

Why are the Territory’s communities left behind when it comes to the services the more centralised populations in larger cities take for granted?

The lack of resources left behind after the closure of the town’s medical clinic was magnified by the shooting.

Two men, the shooting victim and the police officer who was stabbed, needed urgent medical attention.

No one can question the motives behind the decision to close the clinic.

The staff in a community must be safe at all times.

But what must be raised is what plans were put in place for emergencies?

Were adequate services made available if an emergency occurred?

Essentially it was left to police officers to perform first aid and CPR on a man who had been shot, while waiting for an ambulance from a community around two hours away to arrive.

The incident revealed how tragic the outcome of a serious incident can be if a community is not properly resourced.

This is 2019. Not 1919.

How can an isolated town of nearly 800 people which is a three-hour drive from Alice Springs be left without basic medical infrastructure?

How can Mr Walker’s family be left waiting for updates on his condition outside Alice Springs Hospital for hours and be ignored?

This is the reason why it is important for our nation’s leaders to come to the Territory and to bring the attention of the national media to the plight of Australia’s forgotten people.

In the past week several of the Morrison Government ministers visited the NT.

But there was still no sign of the man himself, the Prime Minister for the east coast of Australia, Scott Morrison.