Northern Territory government agencies and service providers will be under a microscope as the Aboriginal Justice Unit reviews all departments for evidence of systemic racism, the NT coroner has heard.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains an image of a person who has died, used with the permission of their family.
Leanne Liddle, a former police officer in South Australia and current director of the Aboriginal Justice Unit — which sits under the Department of Attorney-General and Justice — was called to give evidence to the coronial inquest into the police shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker.
She told the coroner systemic racism was often "misunderstood".
"It's often denied, challenged, deflected or dismissed," Ms Liddle said.
"Systemic racism is racism that is structured in political or social institutions that discriminate either deliberately or not deliberately, consciously or unconsciously, within a system that impacts and delivers unfair and discriminatory outcomes for specific racial groups."
She told the inquest every NT government agency and service provider, including the Northern Territory Police Force, would be reviewed by her department for systemic racism.
Ms Liddle said the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics (DIPL) was the first agency to be reviewed and the second was yet to be decided.
"People get uncomfortable when we talk about reviewing systemic racism," Ms Liddle said.
"But they shouldn't because often it's not one person's fault, it just sits in the system."
The report into DIPL has not been made public.
Coroner Elisabeth Armitage has been exploring the broad circumstances of the death of Kumanjayi Walker since September 2022, with a focus on whether there is evidence that systemic racism existed in the NT Police Force.
Mr Walker died in November 2019 after he was shot by NT Police Constable Zachary Rolfe during an attempted arrest at the remote Indigenous community of Yuendumu.
Constable Rolfe was acquitted in March 2022 of all criminal charges related to the shooting, with jurors hearing he acted in self-defence, defence of his partner, and in the reasonable performance of his duties after he was stabbed in the shoulder by Mr Walker.
Systemic racism within NT Police
Ms Liddle told the coroner she had spent about three years doing consultations with Aboriginal communities across the Northern Territory to develop the Aboriginal Justice Agreement (AJA), which was signed in 2021, and said systemic racism was one of the biggest issues she came across.
In her statement, tendered to the inquest, Ms Liddle said she had "lost count" of the number of times she had experienced racism at work.
"I recall on one consult, a senior sergeant of a remote police station … said to me when I asked him what did he believe was the answer to reducing incarceration of Aboriginal people. He said, 'The only hope you mob have is to stop breeding for the next 10 to 15 years,'" Ms Liddle said.
The coroner has previously heard from Deputy Police Commissioner Murray Smalpage that he is not aware of any systemic racism within the force.
Deputy Commissioner Smalpage accepted there had been some officers with racist views and attitudes, but he said the issue was not systemic.
Ms Liddle told the coroner the NT Police Force was not the only agency she believed had issues with systemic racism.
"Systemic racism isn't something that people deliberately do," Ms Liddle said.
"I think an anti-racism campaign or strategy would be the bare minimum I would like to see inside systems like the police force.
"I see this long list of policies and reform and change within the NT Police Force and I can't see any input from Aboriginal people which will make it work … and yet we're key people in the justice system who will be impacted."
Barrister for the NT Police Force, Ian Freckelton KC, told the inquest the Community Resilience and Engagement Command (CREC), which was established in 2020, included Aboriginal members and advised the force on reforms.
Ms Liddle told the coroner she would like to see Aboriginal representation in the highest ranks of the NT Police Force, which currently employs fewer than 200 Aboriginal sworn members.
"You can employ lower-level employees in the system, but if we're not at the table to make the decisions and provide the contribution about our interactions and over-representation of Aboriginal people in the justice system, then where is that conversation coming from … to inform the senior ranks about Aboriginal issues?" Ms Liddle said.
She told the inquest the NT police force needed to be a "more attractive" place for Aboriginal people to work.
"One of those barriers [to increased Aboriginal employment] … would have to be structural racism," Ms Liddle said.
"The police force is not alone in this issue."
NT Intervention impacts still felt
The coroner has previously heard the Howard government's 2007 NT Intervention dismantled local community councils in favour of larger "super shire" councils.
Yuendumu became part of the larger Central Desert Regional Council in July 2008.
Ms Liddle told the coroner that in her consultations with remote communities, she found the new system led to "disempowerment" of locals and fewer jobs within community.
She said simple things, such as changes to who was responsible for watering communities' football fields, had much broader impacts.
"Something as simple as not paying the water bill to make the grass grow on an oval … feeds down into a system that has far more significant consequences," Ms Liddle said.
"Those football matches were not just about playing football, they were where disputes got negotiated, families discussed issues around child protection and kinship care and more."
Constable Rolfe replies to allegations
Constable Zachary Rolfe's lawyer addressed the inquest on a separate issue late on Monday, raising arguments the coroner heard last week over a 2,500-word statement published by the officer.
Dr Freckelton, the barrister for the NT Police Force, last week alleged Constable Rolfe's written statement might have amounted to an attempt to pervert the course of justice, while the barrister for members of Mr Walker's family, Andrew Boe, alleged some media reporting might have been in contempt of court.
The coroner was asked to consider whether the allegations should be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions or attorney-general.
Constable Rolfe's lawyer, Luke Officer, today told the coroner his client rejected all allegations.
"The application ought to be dismissed both in terms of an allegation of contempt and an allegation of attempt to pervert the course of justice," Mr Officer said.
He told the court the media outlets might need legal representation.
The coroner told Mr Officer she would accept submissions on the issue in writing, rather than in court.
The inquest continues.
