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Police Abuse

Three decades on, the death of Douglas Scott remains unresolved

Douglas Scott

Mr Scott's death was one of the 99 cases examined by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1989. Mrs Scott were shown photographs of Mr Scott hanging in his cell by two lawyers assisting the Commission in the Northern Territory. Mrs Scott said the photographs showed him suspended inches from a grate in the nine-foot-high ceiling with his feet dangling two to three feet from the floor, the noose around his neck made from a plain and tightly twisted sheet that was neatly tied in multiple knots which were tight and close together. She did not believe her husband made the noose. [node:read-more:link]

'They said I was headed to the big prison': A new lost generation

DEREK'S friends got him into stealing in his mid-teens. He was thrown in juvenile detention twice, cut off from his family and missing school, instead surrounded by endless opportunities for further crime. "It's not easy, you got no family to talk to," he said. "They said, as soon as you hit 18, you'll be heading to the big prison, the man's prison." Derek was one of the lucky ones. While on parole, his uncle organised for him to do community service and later to work at a tourism organisation on his traditional Aboriginal country in the Kimberley. [node:read-more:link]

A generation lost if Indigenous youth incarceration rate continues: Amnesty

First Nations youth are 24 times more likely to be incarcerated than other Australian youth, Amnesty International has found. Amnesty International secretary-general Salil Shetty at the National Press Club in Canberra said the rate would have devastating consequences. "We will see another generation lost to failed government policies unless Australian Governments get smarter about this, and fast," Mr Shetty said. "We will see another generation lost to failed government policies unless Australian Governments get smarter about this, and fast" [node:read-more:link]

Murrumu charged after driving with licence issued by his Nation

Murrumu Walubara Yidindji, charged after driving with licence issued by his Nation

Murrumu Walubara Yidindji, the former Canberra press gallery journalist previously known as Jeremy Geia, who has renounced Australia to live under tribal law in far North Queensland has been booked for using his own Nations registration plates on his car. Murrumu is behind the establishment of an infant sovereign Yidindji government near Cairns. He is now the nation’s "foreign affairs and trade minister" and says he has referred the matter to his “attorney general for further investigation” [node:read-more:link]

You must recognise that we are in a process of taking back our power to care for our own communities: Bella Bropho, Matargarup

"We have never been given the opportunity to live in our own ways ... since occupation of our lands in 1829, we have been forced, by successive policies, to be a reactive people. Now we are trying to change to be proactive, but we need time to do that in our own way. We are in the process of re-piecing together our community with our own value system, starting here at Heirisson Island," said Bella Bropho at the Matagarup Refugee Camp on Heirisson Island, Perth, Western Australia. [node:read-more:link]

Remote Aboriginal communities: Opposition calls for source of Commissioner's child sex abuse claims

The WA Police Commissioner must explain where he sourced statistics used to support claims of widespread sexual abuse in remote Indigenous communities, the Opposition says. The Opposition's Aboriginal affairs spokesman Ben Wyatt told Parliament the figures were used in a newspaper opinion piece authored by Commissioner O'Callaghan in March. In it, O'Callaghan backed claims by Barnett of sexual abuse in remote communities, quoting statistics from an unnamed publication. [node:read-more:link]

First Nations human rights campaigner Ray Jackson shone a light on deaths in custody for 30 years

On April 23, an Aboriginal man who dedicated his life to fighting against the deaths of his people in Australian police and prison cells succumbed quietly to his own death in his small flat in Waterloo. Ray Jackson, a Wiradjuri warrior for human rights, was one of Australia's most vocal and knowledgeable deaths-in-custody campaigners. A fighter for Koori justice – or "fkj", as he always signed his weekly emails – Jackson spent nearly 30 years holding our police, prison and court systems to account every time a "blackfella" died in custody. [node:read-more:link]

Murrawarri Head of State refused entry to ANZAC Day March

Fred Hooper being apprehended by Australina Federal Police officers

Mr Fred Hooper, Head of State of the Murrawarri Republic, who served in the Royal Australian Navy as a submariner, was prevented from marching in Canberra on ANZAC Day in commemoration of his Grandfather and his two great uncles. Mr Hooper said from Canberra. “ I wanted to march with my Navy mates, but was prevented by the Australian Federal Police. Instead I was given a police escort from the back of the parade to the front, where the Submarine Association was gathered before the official march commenced.” [node:read-more:link]

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