Aboriginal health staff were not included in discussions about closing Yuendumu’s only medical clinic over concerns about break-ins at nurses homes in the days before Kumanjayi Walker was shot, an inquest has heard.
Walker, a 19-year-old Warlpiri man, died after he was shot three times by Northern Territory police Const Zachary Rolfe during an attempted arrest on 9 November 2019. Rolfe was found not guilty of murder earlier this year.
A lengthy inquest into Walker’s death resumed on Monday after a week-long break and heard from remote nurses stationed at Yuendumu in the lead-up to the shooting.
The inquest has previously heard there were no nursing staff in Yuendumu when Walker was shot as they had been evacuated from the community after break-ins at their homes.
Luana Symonds, who managed the community health clinic at the time of the shooting, told the inquest that nursing staff were concerned for their safety after several homes were broken into, including her own, which was broken into three days before Walker was shot.
“It was one of the first times that something like this had happened to any member of staff,” Symonds told the coroner.
The nurses, who are not Indigenous, held a phone meeting after the break-ins and the consensus was that staff were feeling “pretty unsafe”, the inquest heard. Shortly afterwards a decision was made to close the clinic and evacuate all health staff.
Symonds, a Māori woman, had 35 years’ experience as a nurse, including six atYuendumu. She said that incidents in the community had been rare and she was “disappointed and annoyed” rather than afraid.
But she said none of the three Aboriginal staff who worked at the health clinic – one Aboriginal health practitioner and two community workers – were invited to attend because they were not affected by the break-ins.
Asked why the Aboriginal staff members were not on the call, she said: “I don’t feel that the staff were excluded, I just don’t think they weren’t included.”
Under further cross-examination by Gerard Mullins, who represents one of the Yuendumu families, Symonds agreed that the meeting was about more than the break-ins and the Indigenous staff should have been included.
“This meeting was not just about whose house was getting broken into this meeting, it was about whether the appropriate thing to do was to withdraw staff from the community and effectively close the clinic,” Mullins asked.
“Correct, I agree,” Symonds replied.
She also agreed when Mullins put to her that, in her home country of New Zealand, it would be “unthinkable” not to include First Nations people as part of a discussion about shutting down medical services in a community.
Symonds said Indigenous clinic staff provide a valuable role working and living in the community, offering medical support as well as being translators and ensuring cultural safety.
“They’re vital,” she said. “They enable nursing staff, medical staff to navigate cultural norms … they assist with language, and just help non-Aboriginal staff to perform their duties and deliver their services.”
The inquest continues. Other remote nurses stationed in Yuendumu are expected to give evidence this week.
