Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Last month, thousands of people across the country gathered to demand justice for Kumanjayi White, a 24-year-old Warlpiri man with a disability who died after being restrained by police in a Coles supermarket in Mparntwe/Alice Springs. He was from the same community as Kumanjayi Walker, who was killed by Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe in 2019. The recent coroner's report into Walker's death confirms what we already know—racist police in this country still treat First People as the enemy. There have been 13 black deaths in custody already this year and at least 599 since the 1991 royal commission, and yet, instead of a national plan, all we hear from this government is excuses. Let me be clear—the federal government can act. It must act, and so far it is choosing not to.

Here are some things the federal government can do today: stop funding states and territories who violate human rights and harm our people; legislate national minimum standards to end torture-like prison conditions and remove hanging points; establish national oversight and monitoring of the implementation of royal commission recommendations; fund our community legal, health, housing and family violence services to self-determine what's best for us; and listen to and support the request of the families. This government has the power. The responsibility couldn't be any clearer. What is missing is the moral compass and the guts to act, Labor. To Yuendumu and all families affected by deaths in custody: I hear you. I stand with you. We won't stop fighting until we get justice.