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

Thank you, President. I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that on 27 May 2025, 24-year-old disabled Warlpiri-Luritja man Kumanjayi White died a tragic death under police restraint inside a supermarket in Mparntwe/Alice Springs;

(b) extends its deepest sympathies to the family of Kumanjayi White and the Yuendumu community;

(c) notes that 17 First Nations people have died in custody this year and extends its deepest sympathies to the families of these people;

(d) resolves that all parliamentarians will work constructively together to address the over-incarceration of First Nations people and deaths in custody; and

(e) calls on the Government to:

(i) support Kumanjayi White's family, and note their request for:

(A) the re-establishment of community-control and self-determination in the Northern Territory, and

(B) the reversal of interventionist policies introduced under the NT Intervention and subsequent Stronger Futures legislation 18 years ago;

(ii) ensure there is appropriate support for the impacted family, for sorry business and during the coronial inquest, and necessary legal support,

(iii) continue to work with states and territories to:

(A) implement recommendations from the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and

(B) ensure appropriate conduct of investigations into First Nations deaths in custody and monitor progress of recommendations made to the Government relating to deaths in custody.

I have put forward this motion with the intention of bringing this chamber together on something that is very important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and it should be very important for this nation. This isn't about politics or pointscoring; it's about compassion. It's about our shared duty as parliamentarians to ensure that justice and dignity are extended to all people on this continent.

On 27 May this year, during Reconciliation Week, 24-year-old Warlpiri man Kumanjayi White died under police restraint in a Coles supermarket. He was a young man with a disability. He was deeply loved. His death was preventable. This motion extends the Senate's deepest sympathies to his family, to the Yuendumu community, to the families of the 17 First Peoples who've died in custody this year and to the families of all those who have died since the 1991 royal commission. These are not just statistics; they are sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, cousins, siblings and grandchildren lost to a system that continues to harm our people.

Ned Hargraves, a senior Warlpiri elder and the grandfather of Kumanjayi White, spoke for many when he said: 'We are devastated by this death. My jaja was vulnerable and needed support, not to be criminalised because of his disability.' Ned has called for answers, respect and justice, not just for his family but for all families still waiting for change and for those who live in fear that their loved ones will be next.

This motion calls on the government to ensure the family is supported over the coming months, with assistance for sorry business, the coronial inquest and legal support. That is the very least we can do. But it also asks this parliament to do something bigger: to work together to end the crisis of deaths in custody and the overincarceration of First Peoples in this country. This is not a partisan issue or one for states and territories alone. It is a national responsibility—a moral one. The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991 made clear what needs to be done, yet, decades later, those recommendations remain largely unimplemented and ignored. Meanwhile, families continue to bury their loved ones.

This motion is about committing to practical, overdue action, supported by evidence and backed by First Peoples. It calls for federal leadership that works with states and territories to ensure that every death in custody is properly investigated, that recommendations are tracked and implemented and that families are treated with respect and dignity.

I speak not only as a senator but as someone who has lived through this pain. My cousin Josh Kerr died in custody in 2022. I grew up with his mum, Donnis. She's family to me. She told me about saying, 'I love you,' for the last time while Josh was in shackles, about their last hug and about how the system took him from her, just like it had taken her from her own parents—a cycle of grief that has never been broken. This is our reality.

This motion is about preventing the pain from continuing. It's about doing what we can here and now to ensure that Kumanjayi's death is not just another entry in a long and shameful list. It must be a turning point. I urge all senators and those in the other place to support this motion. Let us stand together. Choose justice and honour. Honour Kumanjayi White's memory by committing to real change.

When I first came into the Senate, I did bring in this message stick with 441 markings to mark 441 deaths in custody. Today we have 602 deaths in custody, after a royal commission. When will this end? This is our message to this parliament: stop killing us. Stop killing us.