Grandfather pens letter to PM after death in custody
The senior Warlpiri leader and kin of Kumanjayi White, who died after being forcibly restrained by two plain clothes officers inside a supermarket in Alice Springs in May, said justice in the Territory was "in crisis".
"Your government in Canberra has total power over the NT," Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, a Yuendumu man, wrote.
"The prisons are so full they need private security guards; guards on buses and public housing officers are being given guns - this madness must stop."
The letter addressed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese landed ahead of protests in Sydney and Alice Springs on Saturday to demand justice for Mr White.
The senior Indigenous leader renewed his call for an independent investigation into the death of his grandson.
The family has also been calling for the release of CCTV footage and for the officers involved to be stood down while the investigation takes place.
Federal minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, backs an independent inquiry but despite broad support, the NT government has rejected the proposal, saying NT Police are best-placed to investigate the death.
Police allege Mr White, who had a mental disability and was in care, was shoplifting and assaulted a security guard.
In his letter, Mr Hargraves demanded immediate action from the Commonwealth, including withholding funding to the NT government until it agreed to an independent probe.
"You used this power to take away all our rights, our jobs and our assets with the NT Intervention 18 years ago today," he said.
"Now we demand action from Canberra to see that our rights are restored and we are protected from the racist Country Liberal Party government."
Speaking ahead of a meeting of the Joint Council on Closing the Gap in Darwin on Friday, Senator McCarthy said deaths in custody had to end and the federal government was deeply concerned about the issue.
The Yuendumu community also lost 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker in 2019 when he was shot by then-NT police officer Zachary Rolfe during a botched arrest.
Mr Rolfe was found not guilty of all charges over the death in 2022.
Protesters in Sydney gathered to respond to a policing conference involving the former police officer but the first responders event has since been cancelled, according to the rally organisers.
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