‘Black Monopoly’ board referred to NT ICAC

The racist ‘Black Monopoly’ board distributed in the NT police in 2008, first reported by The Australian, was ‘absolutely shocking’, NT Chief Minister Eva Lawler said on Thursday.

A 'Black Monopoly' board purportedly distributed among members of NT Police's elite Territory Response Group as a joke.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Eva Lawler says a NT police email of a “black Monopoly” board where all the squares directed the player to go to jail was “absolutely shocking”, saying more evidence of alleged racism is “probably” likely to emerge.

NT police commissioner Michael Murphy has referred the image to the territory ICAC to form part of its ongoing investigation into the police force, the ABC reported.

The Australian on Thursday revealed an email sent in December 2008 to all members of the Territory Response Group, an elite unit of the NT police, as well as members of the Major Crime Unit and Drug Enforcement Section.

The email had the subject line “Indigenous Monopoly” and a manipulated image of a Monopoly board where all the squares read “go to jail”, captioned with “this is gold”.

The email has recently become the subject of internal discussion following a review into allegations of racism within the organisation, and called for a wider review by the NT corruption watchdog which currently is honing in on the Territory Response Group.

A 'Black Monopoly' board purportedly distributed among members of NT Police's elite Territory Response Group as a joke.

The ABC report quoted Mr Murphy saying the leaked email was “very concerning”.

“We’ve called for people to come forward with any information they may have,” the report quoted him saying.

“I imagine that more information, or emails, or some material will come out in due course.”

Ms Lawler on Thursday said that did not reflect the police force today.

“The TRG is a very different TRG to those days,” she told reporters.

“I absolutely would hope that things have changed considerably in the ensuing 16 years.

“The police that I deal with – and I deal with some of the police officers through TRG – assure me that’s not what the police force is about today.

“There are a number of inquiries going on.

“We need to see that information that comes out of that.”

She said she had not independently of The Australian’s reporting seen the email or the manipulated image of the “black Monopoly” board.

When asked whether she thought there would be “more to come out” of the various investigations of the police force, Ms Lawler said, “yeah, I’m sure there probably is”.

The territory ICAC recently asked the NT Police for assistance in its inquiry of the police force itself over accusations of racism in the TRG, The Australian revealed. There is separately a coronial inquest over the death of Kumanjayi Walker.