Teachers evacuated from APY Lands after violence between rival families

The policing of the remote APY Lands of SA has been labelled ‘absolutely appalling’ after violence erupted between rival families and the police ‘were nowhere to be found’.

APY Lands Council general manager Richard King.

The policing of the remote APY Lands of South Australia has been labelled “absolutely appalling” by community leaders after alcohol-fuelled violence erupted between rival families on the weekend and the police “were ­nowhere to be found”.

“If police don’t start putting on proper services into these communities then someone is going to get killed,” said Richard King, chief executive of the Apy Lands Council.

Teachers and other government workers in the Indigenous community of Mimili were removed for their safety over the weekend after violent clashes between rival families.

Other government staff were removed from Kaltjiti.

“Following unrest in the Mimili community late last week, the Department for Education decided to bring forward the end of the school term at Mimili Anangu School,” a spokeswoman said.

“Term three had been due end on Wednesday 27 September, however it has not been open this week. All staff were offered the opportunity to travel to Adelaide to participate in professional learning and wellbeing sessions. However, some of the school’s Anangu Educators chose to remain in the community. Eight other staff, including the school principal, did travel to Adelaide and have been provided with a range of support.”

Mr King said a violent confrontation between the feuding families – a feud which goes back many years – “happened around the school grounds and around the (teacher’s) houses on the weekend, fuelled by alcohol”.

People armed with clubs and axes were facing off against each other and the young, mainly female teachers barricaded inside their caged houses were terrified.

“Police phones were just off and they were nowhere to be found; that’s not a police service,” Mr King, who is Indigenous, said.

Mr King at Umuwa.

“This is what we mean when we say we want equal and fair treatment.”

He said people in remote communities deserved to be able to pick up the phone to police when there is violence and for the police to respond, as they would anywhere else in Australia.

Mr King said that when people did call the police for help, their calls were diverted to Port Augusta, which is more than a thousand kilometres away.

APY Lands communities are dry and alcohol is banned. But there are grog-runners who drive to Coober Pedy or Alice Springs to pick up loads of booze.

Mr King said grog-runners were well known and had been reported to the police but, he claimed, little had been done by the police “to pull them up before they get here”.

A spokesman for SA Police Minister Joe Szakacs said police resourcing, particularly in regional areas, was a matter for the police. Another government worker said there was frustration with the police because the violence was fuelled by “grog and dope and the cops don’t seem to want to do anything about it”.

They said the police have a fly-in fly-out model of policing which means they “don’t have any relationships with the mob up there, they don’t know the community”.

He said sometimes the police “just sit in the police complexes and don’t venture outside”, waiting for the trouble to subside.

A spokesman for SA Police said: “Last week SAPOL responded to an isolated incident of unrest within the community of Mimili. With the assistance of community members the unrest was quickly resolved. Where required, SAPOL will deploy ­additional resources to all areas of the state to assist with ensuring safer communities.”

Mr King said he recently went past the court and there was “this lovely guy” standing outside, waiting for an appearance and he asked him what had happened. He thought it out of character for this man to be at court.

He’d thrown a rock at the police and was charged.

“He said that for three hours he was trying to get the police to come to his house after his family had been attacked,” Mr King said.

“He said ‘When they finally came it was all over and my daughter was lying on the ground bleeding. I was so angry that I threw a rock at the police car and they charged me. That’s why I’m here at court.’

“This is the quality of the police service we have out here,” Mr King said.

“It’s absolutely appalling.”