Indigenous leader Warren Mundine blasts inaction for remote ‘epidemic of violence’

Warren Mundine has blasted decades of inaction by NT leaders who he says have ‘ignored an epidemic of violence’ in remote communities.

Warren Mundine. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian

Former chair of the Coalition’s Indigenous Advisory Council Warren Mundine, has hit out at Northern Territory governments for “doing nothing” to fix the “epidemic of violence” gripping remote Indigenous communities.

In a multi-part series, The Weekend Australian has exposed the shocking abuse of a young Yuendumu woman at the hands of her father and the payback exacted when she and her female relatives sought justice.

The series has prompted an extraordinary outcry from NT ­Supreme Court judge ­Judith Kelly, who said she was “shocked at how shocked I wasn’t” at Ruby’s case, going on to reveal countless others like it.

“It’s a horrendous story, but we see that every day,” Justice Kelly said.

On Saturday, Mr Mundine said it was time people were “named and shamed”, saying said he and Indigenous Liberal senator Jacinta Price, among others, had “been raising these issues for decades … and it’s just ignored.”

“But not only ignored … we’ve been abused and called racist names (for speaking out),” he told Sky News.

“When are we really going to take this situation seriously?”

The Indigenous leader, who was previously president of the Australian Labor Party before quitting in 2012, was appointed chairman of the Indigenous Advisory Council by former prime minister Tony Abbott.

The author, businessman and political commentator, who has spent years advocating for greater action in Indigenous communities, said the problem was disregarded because it was happening in Aboriginal communities.

“We have an epidemic in this community and yet if this was in Sydney or in Melbourne there would be outroar about it, but of course they’re Aboriginal people, they’re just ignored,” he said.

Mr Mundine said he hoped to see Ms Price “name and shame” in the NT Parliament in order to drive action, insisting that “funding is not the issue”.

“What we’ve got to do is focus this funding,” he said.

“We can spend billions of dollars but unless we get leadership within these communities and listen to their voices and work with them to fix this issue then it is not going to go away.”

In a rare interview, Justice Kelly told The Weekend Australian women in the bush were trapped in an epidemic of extreme violence brought about by inter­generational abuse and disadvantage and a culture that protects perpetrators before victims.

She said the problems were so severe that in some cases women who had tried to escape had been effectively kidnapped and dragged to tiny outstations to face beatings and rape.

Others had endured years of often drunken, jealous violence inflicted by “hopeless” men, only to be killed in the company of ­bystanders who did not try to help.

Justice Kelly, one of the Territory’s nine top judicial officers, shared her observations after handling scores of such cases since 2009. Sitting judges rarely give ­interviews. She broke down during hers. “I just want people to know what’s happening to Aboriginal women,” Justice Kelly said. “I’m absolutely sure that if ­people knew, they would care … so if people find out what’s happening, and they do care, maybe something can be done about it.”