Kumanjayi White: Chief Minister criticises Fed pollies’ calls for independent death in custody probe

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro claims politicians’ calls for an independent investigation into a young man’s death in custody are ‘appalling’, despite backing from family and human rights groups.

On Tuesday the Chief Minister and Police Minister Lia Finocchiaro equated demands for the criminal and coronial investigation to be taken out of the hands of Territory cops as an “attack on our police”. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The Chief Minister has criticised two senior Indigenous Labor politicians for joining a family’s call for an independent investigation into the death in custody of a disabled Aboriginal man.

On Tuesday Chief Minister and Police Minister Lia Finocchiaro equated demands for the criminal and coronial investigation to be taken out of the hands of Territory cops as an “attack on our police”.

It comes two weeks after 24-year-old Kumanjayi White died 70 minutes after being forced to the ground by plainclothes police officers at the Alice Springs Coles.

His cause of death is yet to be determined and according to NT Police, nobody has been stood down in relation to the incident.

His grandfather and Senior Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargrave demanded an independent investigation into his death, with this call echoed by the Federal Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy and Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour.

Dozens of other human rights and advocacy groups — including Amnesty International, the National Justice Project, First Peoples Disability Network, The National Network, Justice Not Jails, and Justice for Walker — also voiced their support for the family’s demands.

On the first day of estimates Mrs Finocchiaro said the comments made by Ms McCarthy and Ms Scrymgour were “quite frankly appalling”.

“This is a sad time for the community; our police have an incredibly important job to do, and the politicisation of this issue helps no-one,” she said.

“It does not support our police or the Coroner to do their work, or the families who are grieving and communities who want answers.”

She accused NT Labor of “defending your federal colleagues for their attack on our police over the deaths in custody investigations”.

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Acting Police Commissioner Martin Dole said calls for an independent investigation were “probably slightly misinformed” – despite Kumanjayi White’s family also being involved in a second death in custody coronial inquiry.

Mr Dole told parliament only local police could be responsible for investigating alleged “criminality within the Northern Territory”.

“It is inappropriate for us to bring someone from another jurisdiction who does not have the expertise in Territory legislation and the numerous case law rulings and difficulties that investigators in the Territory have to navigate through,” Mr Dole said.

“That is not something we can just hand to someone else and if we were to bring in an independent investigator.

“They would have to be sworn in as members of the Northern Territory Police Force to utilise our powers under the Act.”

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro and Acting NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole. Picture: Fia Walsh.

The top brass said he had complete confidence in the investigation, stating perceived conflicts of interest would be managed by the oversight of the NT Ombudsman, ICAC and the coroner.

The family of Kumanjayi White also repeatedly called for the CCTV of his arrest to be released to the family.

However Mr Dole said this would not be allowed under the current criminal investigation, stating “that footage is an exhibit and the integrity of that needs to be maintained”.

On Monday Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had also not been convinced a Commonwealth agency should take over the investigation.

“I’d need to be convinced that people in Canberra know better than (the) people in the Northern Territory about how to deal with these issues, “ Mr Albanese said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had also not been convinced that a Commonwealth agency should take over the investigation. Picture Thomas Lisson

The NT Parliament was told on Tuesday two investigations into alleged systemic racism within the NT Police force had been completed, including a report by the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption and an internal anti-racism review by Community Resilience and Engagement Command director Leanne Liddle.

On Tuesday acting ICAC commissioner Greg Shanahan said NT Police had accepted the findings of the investigations into allegations of improper conduct within the Territory Response Group.

Mrs Finocchiaro said Ms Liddle’s anti-racism strategy for police had been completed, but it would not be released until after the Kumanjayi Walker coronial inquest.

Acting NT Ombudsman Candice McLean told Estimates she expected complaints against NT Police would almost double compared to the previous 12 months.

Ms McLean said there were 369 police complaints in 2023-24, but expected more than 600 police complaints by the end of this financial year.

“Which we consider may be due to increased police presence and operational activity,” she said.

Originally published as Kumanjayi White: Chief Minister criticises Fed pollies’ calls for independent death in custody probe