Yuendumu trial: No move to strip NT Police of firearms

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner has resisted calls to strip police of firearms in Aboriginal communities, saying senior police must decide what weapons their officers carry.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner has resisted calls to strip police of firearms in Aboriginal communities, saying senior police must decide what weapons their officers carry.

After Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar joined the calls for police in communities to no longer carry guns, Mr Gunner was asked on Tuesday if police were “going to be able to continue to have firearms in communities”.

“Police have to have the kit they need, and they never know what situation they will be responding to,” he said. “So police, whatever it is … a gun or not a gun, that’s a decision (for) police and police command, (and) I fully support them in making sure that the police have the kit that they need.”

The debate over guns came after Friday’s acquittal of officer Zachary Rolfe, who shot dead 19-year-old Aboriginal man Kumanjayi Walker in a botched arrest.

Senior Yuendumu elder Ned Hargraves issued an emotional response after the verdict, saying in part: “No guns. No guns in rural remote community. We don’t want no remote community. We don’t want no guns. No guns. Enough is enough.”

CLP Senate candidate Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who lives in Alice Springs, said she could not support stripping police of guns in remote communities while family violence in those communities remained at such alarming levels.

“We know there have been 500 Aboriginal deaths in custody since the royal commission (in 1991) but since then 951 Aboriginal people have died of homicide and 700 of those were caused by other Indigenous Australians,” she said.

“Until the rates of interpersonal violence, domestic and family violence are dealt with, I don’t see how there can be a call to remove guns.”

Ms Nampijinpa Price said Walker’s death was a tragic event but overall she believed taking guns off police would have unintended consequences.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar. Picture: Colin Murty

“Edged weapons kill far more people in communities – many of my family members have been victims,” she said.

In a statement emailed to newsrooms on Tuesday, Dr Oscar said she supported this change.

“Walker’s family have been brave, courageous and determined to bring the trial to public attention during this painful period. And now they continue to call for urgent reforms. I stand with them in their ongoing pursuit of justice for all First Nations peoples,” Dr Oscar said. She also called for elders and Indigenous liaison officers to hold decision-making positions in policing matters, and for substantial investments in community wraparound supports and trauma-informed responses.

“There have been more than 500 Indigenous deaths in custody since the royal commission, and several recent police shootings of First Nations people underline the need for immediate action,” she said. “In addition to the deaths of Kumanjayi Walker and Joyce Clarke, a Yamatji woman who was shot by police, a young Indigenous man is … in a critical condition after being shot six times by a police officer near Darwin.

“Mass incarceration and the deaths of First Nations people when in contact with the justice system must end.

“The mass incarceration and over-policing of First Nations people is driven by systemic and structural problems within the justice system and beyond it. Until this changes – until we see significant systemic shifts and investment in the security and health of our communities – the grave injustice of Indigenous deaths will continue,” Dr Oscar said.