Chris Hurley: on trial in Townsville

Miss Eagle has had much to say on this blog in relation to the death of Cameron Doomadgee, Mulrunji. To-day, in Townsville the trial of Chris Hurley began. Miss Eagle will not be commenting on this matter during the trial. At this stage, the fact that Chris Hurley is on trial is sufficient. Those who are interested should be able to find sufficient press coverage. Miss Eagle would only remind you, dear Reader, that if more information is needed the Coroner's report into Mulrunji's death and her recommendations can be accessed here.

CHRIS HURLEY TO TRIAL OVER DEATH OF MULRUNJI

Policeman faces death in custody trial
is the headline in The Age in Melbourne to-day.
The item puts the situation in an historic context
but if one knew nothing of the Australian penal system
one might think that a policeman is facing a death sentence.
Sensationalism?

Meanwhile, over at The Courier Mail in Brisbane, Queensland
the headline is terse.
Hurley trial in June
The reporting is succinct. Bare detail.
Trying not to offend anyone are we?
Like the Queensland Police?
Like Peter Beattie and the Queensland Government?

Police in Aboriginal communities

Aboriginal Community Police Officer Don St Clair, Alice Springs Police.

Joined the ACPO Scheme in December 1997

The Queensland Police Union is threatening to cut ties with Aboriginal communities.

Interesting idea! When the going gets tough, the tough get right out of there!

Miss Eagle is interested in this little interchange:

QPU spokesman Denis Fitzgerald says it may be time to sever ties completely. "If they don't want the police there, get them out," he said. "Let tribal law take over, let them police their own communities." Mr Fitzgerald says watch-houses need to be upgraded if officers are wanted."No watch-house in an Aboriginal community anywhere is this state can possibly comply with black death-in-custody recommendations," he said.The union says 200 extra police and more video cameras would be a start, but Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has rejected across-the-board changes."In small communities, it is simply a waste of money," he said.

Interesting to see the Queensland Police Union having some input into Aboriginal policy matters. These comments are worthy of closer scrutiny.

1. Let tribal law take over. Aboriginal citizens are as entitled as anyone else to have police in their communities. As for tribal law, what tribal law should be implemented on Palm Island? Palm Island is a mess of whitefella's making when, a century ago, people were rounded up from various Aboriginal nations across North Queensland and herded into the Aboriginal penal settlement known as Palm Island. Really, its a bit like herding Canadians, Americans, Australians, British, and South Africans into one place and deciding whose law should take precedence. Traditional law does have a place alongside whitefella law in Aboriginal communities, just as Aboriginal culture does have a place alongside whitefella culture, but Palm Island is not the place to experiment.


2. No watch-house in an Aboriginal community anywhere is this state can possibly comply with black death-in-custody recommendations. Miss Eagle suspects that this statement is true. She wonders if the QPU has raised this matter before. However, the death of Mulrunji (Cameron Doomadgee) - based on the Coroner's report - does not appear to be attributable to short-comings in watch-house design in Aboriginal communities. There is a whitefella law - one of two laws in western European tradition and found in other parts of the world. It says: "Love your neighbour as yourself." If police on Palm Island had taken as much interest in the welfare of Mulrunji as they did in their own welfare, he would be alive to-day and Chris Hurley would not be about to face the justice system with the possibility of a prison sentence.


3. The union says 200 extra police and more video cameras would be a start. This does not sound an unreasonable request. However, these solutions do not address the issues of police attitudes and the attitudes of the Queensland Government to Aboriginal people and issues relating to poor race relations in Queenland, and in particular North Queensland.


4. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has rejected across-the-board changes."In small communities, it is simply a waste of money," he said. Why is Miss Eagle not surprised at this statement! No money invested in Aboriginal people and their communities outside the law. When this leads to involvement with the law arising from poverty, unemployment, life on the dole, poor access to education, housing and so on and so on, there is no inclination to invest money to ensure the safety of Aboriginal people either through enlightened attitudes of the Queensland Police or through fully implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

Australia is not trying to address the issues of Aboriginal Australia. It is not lacking in goodwill of a rather generalised and fuzzy nature. It's just white Australia is not bothered about doing what really counts where it really counts.

Whitefellas are not just prepared to increase taxes to deal with the issue. They are not prepared to open up employment and education on a large scale to Aboriginal people. They are not prepared, on a wide scale, to come to grips with and acquire knowledge of Aboriginal culture. They are not prepared to sacrifice an ounce of their own comfort to ensure other Australians have the same opportunities.

Traditional Aboriginal communities are out of sight and out of mind and white Australia is quite content with that situation as it is with the out of sight out of mind prison system which has a strong Aboriginal population.

Miss Eagle has long held the view that she will know when there is no discrimination against Aboriginal people. It will be when she walks into a David Jones store and finds a traditional Aboriginal woman working on the cosmetics counter providing retail services to all Australians. This is such a long time coming that Miss Eagle thinks hell will freeze over first.

Please note: Miss Eagle has not intended the above comment as a side swipe at David Jones. The first floor of David Jones stores are sacred women's spaces in Miss Eagle's scheme of things. This is why she wants to see Aboriginal women in there too.

Mike Reynolds applauds one in 219 years event

Mike Reynolds, Member for Townsville (in which Palm island is situated) and Speaker of the Queensland Parliament, speaking of the decision to charge Chris Hurley in relation to the death of Cameron (Mulrunji) Doomadgee, has said

he has spoken to many people on Palm Island who feel they have been vindicated by the decision to have the case heard before a court. "Everyone is saying that this is one of the most important days in the 219 years in regard to justice for Indigenous people," he said.

Onya, Mike!

Paradise - Penal Colony - Place of Promise

Palm Island: Paradise, former Penal Colony, place of promise

" When you come here and say you can't do anything,

you must accept the cynicism and disbelief of this community,"

These words by national ALP President, Warren Mundine, to Queensland Premier Peter Beattie say it all.

However, it could have been that yesterday Peter Beattie was indulging in the art of dog-whistling. Dog-whistling is a way of speaking of which Prime Minister John Howard has often been accused.

Was Peter Beattie dog-whistling yesterday when he said - on one hand - that he would not tell the DPP, Leanne Clare, what to do and yet - in the next breath - Beattie said that if Leanne Clare decided to seek an independent review and call in the NSW DPP, Nicholas Cowdery, to review the decision not to prosecute Chris Hurley in relation to the death of Mulrunji (Cameron Doomadgee) he would support the decision?

Is this how to tell a DPP what should be done when you won't tell the DPP what to do?

Beattie also said he would support the Doomadgee family if they decided to seek a review of the decision of the DPP in the Supreme Court of Queensland.

So for all he did not say, did Beattie really say something? Time will tell.

What disgusted Miss Eagle is the announcement by Beattie that he would provide funding for the building of a diversionary facility on Palm.

Here in a nutshell is the ignorance and arrogance of governments of all persuasions in Queensland.

Palm Island is social mess - but it is a social mess of historic whitefella making from when the Queensland Government rounded up Aboriginal men and women from across North Queensland early in the 20th century and herded them onto Palm Island in what was - for all intents and purposes - an Aboriginal penal colony. People were thrown together irrespective of family and clan connections or clan rivalries. Palm Island was a gulag where even someone like Aboriginal Liberal Party Senator Neville Bonner would have to get permission to visit his family on Palm - and that permission was not always forthcoming!

True, Aboriginal people, just like settler people, could always do better.

Above all Queensland has to do better.

In Miss Eagle's book, Queensland has a fail mark on race relations. In fact, Queensland - with its head and its money stuck firmly in the south-east corner far, far away for the state's north - hasn't a clue. Beattie displayed that yesterday. Beattie will continue to sink money hand over fist into Brisbane because it is the second-fastest growing city in the world after Phoenix Arizona. In North Queensland, there is not even a flood free highway - let alone money for justice and redressing social, health, economic, educational, employment, and governance issues on Palm Island and other Aboriginal communities.

Protests for Justice for Mulrunji : Palm Island, Townsville, Brisbane and Sydney

Wayne Wharton in Brisbane

Noel Pearson on Palm Island

Ernie Dingo in Sydney

The people of Palm

The scene in Brisbane

Alec Doomadgee on Palm

Cousin of Mulrunji - Cameron Doomadgee

Premier of Queensland - Peter Beattie - on Palm Island

And he tried to do that to-day!

Justice

Col Dillon says that Aboriginal people can't get justice in the Qld legal system

Rallying for Mulrunji

A major rally will be held in Townsville to-day (Palm Island is out from Townsville) to protest the failure of the Queensland Govt to prosecute Chris Hurley in relation to the death in policy custody on Palm Island of Mulrunji (Cameron Doomadgee). Warren Mundine, President of the Australian Labor Party, will lead the rally on Palm Island on the day that ALP Premier Peter Beattie arrives on Palm Island to put the official government spin and gloss on a very poor, arrogant, and insensitive decision. Read here about how key investigators - on whose information the decision was based - were friends of Chris Hurley.

It is interesting to see reports that Warren Snowdon and Trish Crossin, both left Labor Federal politicians from the Northern Territory, have made public comments critical of the decision not to prosecute but hosing down Mundine's calls for a campaign of civil disobedience.

Why their insistence that a campaign of civil disobedience must be avoided? Are they fearful that Mundine's proposal will have a degree of a success? Or do they think that a Labor government should be immune from such a campaign?

Miss Eagle would have thought that Labor governments should be immune from making such decisions as those that have been taken favouring the Queensland Police Force. Miss Eagle thinks that Labor Governments should be incapable of the insensitive and racist policies that the Beattie Government implements time and time again.

Is it any wonder that so many of Labor's stalwart supporters believe that it has lost its way? It frequently appears that justice is no more likely to be available for Aboriginal people from Labor governments than it is at the hands of the right wing ideologues inhabiting the Liberal and National Parties in Australia.

Brisbane rally: protestors will ask that Hurley stands trial for Mulrunji's death

To-day there will be a rally in Brisbane

to protest the failure of the Queensland Government

to prosecute the death of Mulrunji (Cameron Doomadgee)

in police custody on Palm Island.

For first hand information,

please go to Let's Take Over where David J has the details.

Aboriginal leaders speak for a trial on Mulrunji's death

Aboriginal leaders are speaking out against the Queensland Government's decision not to prosecute Chris Hurley for the death of Mulrunji (Cameron Doomadgee) on Palm Island.

Paddy Jerome

in The Courier Mail

Warren Mundine
in The Australian

Noel Pearson
in The Sydney Morning Herald

Murrandoo Yanner

on ABC North Queensland

Colin Dillon: integrity then, integrity now.

Some years ago, when the Fitzgerald Inquiry was established to enquire into police corruption in Queensland the first witness heard by the Inquiry was a policeman called Colin Dillon. Colin Dillon was a rarity in the Queensland Police Force. He is an Aboriginal man. Dillon appeared before the enquiry to tell his story about how he had been given a bottle of Chivas Regal whisky by a corrupt policeman. Dillon did not know what to do or to whom he should turn. So he kept the bottle of whisky and when the Fitzgerald Inquiry was established he walked into its offices and placed the unopened bottle of Chivas Regal on the counter and told the Inquiry his story. He had talked to the bottle each day as he shaved. But Col, from a Jehovah's Witness background, was not a drinker. You see, dear Reader, Col Dillon was then and is to-day a man of great integrity.

Col Dillon has now announced his resignation from his job with the Department of Community Services following the decision of the Queensland Government to abolish the Department of Aboriginal and Islander Affairs and a ruling not to charge a policeman over a death in custody on Palm Island.

Once more Col Dillon lets his actions speak so much louder than his words.

Col Dillon - Man of integrity

Who cares? Another death in police custody.

In Queensland, which man's life has more value?

That of Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley of the Queensland Police?

Or that of Mulrunji (Cameron Doomadgee)

killed with the the involvement of Snr Sgt Chris Hurley while in police custody

on Palm Island, off Townsville, North Queensland?

For more information on this matter, please see Miss Eagle's posts here and here.

Mulrunji (Cameron) Doomadgee

Requiescat in Pace

A case to answer? Snr Sgt Chris Hurley.
Monday 20 November 2006 marked the second anniversary of Mulrunji (Cameron) Doomadgee.

One of the great shames of Australia is the deaths of aboriginal people in police custody. The most recent death is that of Mulrunji. Miss Eagle has posted on this previously and has included the damning Coroner's Report on his death.

Aboriginal people are concerned that no charges have yet been laid in relation to the death. Sam Watson, poet and leading Aboriginal activist in Brisbane, gave voice to this at a rally this week.


Miss Eagle echoes the title of her previous post. In the Coroner's Report there was vindication - but will there be justice?

Vindication - but will there be Justice

Miss Eagle received news this afternoon of the result of the Coroner's findings on the death of Mulrunji (otherwise known as Cameron Doomadgee). The Coroner found that an individual policeman kicked Mulrunji and so contributed to his death. Miss Eagle hesitates to call the Coroner's finding justice: vindication, yes; justice, yet to be seen.

Mulrunji has been vindicated. Will justice follow?

One of the great sadnesses in this whole sorry saga is the death of Mulrunji's son.

The Queensland Police Union is in denial on the subject.

Dear Reader, why does this not surprise Miss Eagle? If the Commissioner has the same attitude, the future will remain as bleak as it ever has been when Aboriginal people come in contact with whitefella's law and the Queensland Police will have lost an opportunity to move forward.

The Coroner has made a number of recommendations in her report and Miss Eagle publishes them.

Miss Eagle is a Queenslander. She has lived in the Northern Territory and in Walgett in north-western New South Wales. All these places have significant Aboriginal communities. Miss Eagle cannot say forcefully enough that the attitudes of the Queensland Government on Aboriginal issues and policies is still rooted in the early 20th century. There is no difference whether the Government is Labor, National Party or Liberal. Queensland refuses to implement policies which work elsewhere.

One of the Coroner's recommendations is for the establishment on Palm Island of a community patrol. Miss Eagle lived for a number of years in Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. The Aboriginal community of Tennant Creek established many, many years ago the first Night Patrol in this country. The Night Patrol picks up non-violent Aboriginal people under the influence of alcohol. These people are either taken to their homes or to the alcohol and drug abuse centre. Violent people are left for the police to put in the watchhouse. Such a detox centre is also a recommendation of the Coroner. See what Miss Eagle means? Hardly rocket science. Aboriginal people themselves control these systems in the interests of their own communities - but in Queensland........

And as for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody? Well, if you live in Queensland, the attitude would be: why bother.

~~~~~~~~~~

INVESTIGATION OF MULRUNJI’S DEATH

ARREST AND POLICING

1. The arrest of Mulrunji was not an appropriate exercise of police discretion. There were a range of alternatives to arrest available that should have been preferred. These include giving a caution, issuing a direction or commencing proceedings by way of notice to appear or summons.

2. The Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (PPR Act) should be amended to
reflect the principle of arrest as a last resort. This might be achieved by amending s 198
to provide that a police officer may only arrest an adult without warrant where the
officer reasonably suspects that he or she has committed an offence and where they
reasonably believe that no other action, in all the circumstances, is appropriate given
the matters set out in s 198.

3. The PPR Act should be amended to include an explicit statutory duty to consider and
utilise alternatives to the detention of intoxicated persons in police cells.

4. The Operational Procedures Manual (OPM) should be amended to instruct officers to
consider arrest as a last resort and consider all alternatives before arresting a person,
particularly in cases of minor offences.

5. The OPM should be amended to reinforce the need to consider and utilise alternatives
to the detention of intoxicated persons in police cells.

6. The inappropriate arrest of Mulrunji reflects a lack of awareness of the legal bases upon which a person may be arrested without a warrant. The Police Commissioner should
consider whether this reflects upon police training generally or a need for further training of Senior Sergeant Hurley or other officers who gave evidence at this inquest.

7. The decision to arrest Mulrunji also reflects a lack of awareness of the alternatives to
arrest and confusion about their availability in the case of intoxicated persons. The
Police Commissioner should consider whether this reflects upon police training 27. The involvement in the investigation of Mulrunji’s death of officers from Townsville and Palm Island was inappropriate and undermined the integrity of the investigation.

8. The decision to arrest Mulrunji and the evidence of Senior Sergeant Hurley discloses a
lack of awareness of, and a failure to take into account, the recommendations of the
RCIADIC relating to the arrest of Aboriginal people for drunkenness and public order
offences. The Police Commissioner should consider whether this reflects upon police
training generally or a need for further training of Senior Sergeant Hurley and the other
officers who gave evidence at this inquest.

9. The Police Commission should give particular attention to the training of officers
working in Aboriginal communities. Such training should be provided prior to any
service in Aboriginal communities and should deal specifically with the
recommendations of the RCIADIC and how these are relevant to policing and the
exercise of discretion to arrest. Training should include ‘experiential training’ based on
the Kowanyama trial, as identified in the Cape York Justice Study.

10. Immediate attention should be given by the Queensland Government to the proper
funding and support of the Community Justice Group on Palm Island.

DIVERSIONARY CENTRES AND COMMUNITY PATROLS

11. Urgent attention should be given by the Queensland Government to the establishment of a diversionary centre on Palm Island to provide an alternative to police custody for people who come to the attention of police while intoxicated.

12. Such a centre should be established following consultation with the Palm Island
community and its design and operation must be responsive to local conditions and
needs.

13. The establishment of a diversionary centre should be accompanied by the development of a protocol with the Queensland Police Service, in conjunction with the Palm Island community, as to its use as an alternative to detention.

14. The establishment of a diversionary centre should also be accompanied by training of
police officers working on Palm Island as to the use of the centre as an alternative to
detention.

15. Urgent attention should be given by the Queensland Government to the establishment of a community patrol on Palm Island.

16. The structure and functions of such a community patrol should be developed following consultation with the Palm Island community.

17. It is vital that any community patrol that is implemented on Palm Island is adequately supported and funded to ensure its success.

ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING OF HEALTH

18. There was no assessment of Mulrunji’s health upon being received into police custody at the Palm Island Watchhouse. There was no adequate reason for this failure.

19. The OPM should be amended to fortify the direction given to police in relation to the
conduct of a thorough initial health assessment of any person brought into police
custody. In particular, the OPM should note that where a person taken into custody is
unable initially to be properly assessed because they are violent, aggressive or non-
cooperative, consideration must be given to conducting an assessment by another
means (such as through the cell door) or having another officer conduct the assessment.
In the event that an assessment still cannot be conducted, further attempts must be made
at the earliest available opportunity.

20. The OPM should be urgently reviewed with a view to providing a much greater level of practical guidance to officers on how to conduct health assessments and checks of
persons in their custody.

21. Pending such review, the OPM should be immediately amended to incorporate the
Medical Checklist currently used by Victorian Police. Queensland police should receive
training in the use of that checklist and commence using it immediately.

22. The failure to properly assess Mulrunji’s health suggests a lack of appropriate training for officers in the conduct of health assessments of people in custody. The Police
Commissioner should urgently consider increased and improved training of police
officers in relation to health assessments, particularly for officers in charge of watchhouses who should receive more intensive and specialised training.

23. The content and scope of such training should take into account the RCIADIC
recommendations, in particular:

• Such training should include information as to the general health status of the
Aboriginal population, the dangers and misconceptions associated with
intoxication, the dangers associated with detaining unconscious or semi-rousable
persons and the specific action to be taken by officers in relation to those matters;
and

• In designing and delivering such training programs, custodial authorities should
seek the advice and assistance of Aboriginal Health Services and Aboriginal Legal
Services.

SUPERVISION, MONITORING AND CARE IN CUSTODY

24. The Police Commissioner should consider the need for greater training in relation to
monitoring equipment of officers who are in positions that may require them to have
responsibility for people held in custody,

25. Theoretical and practical training in first aid and resuscitation should be mandatory for all officers who are in charge of a police watchhouse. Wathchhouses should be
resourced with appropriate equipment to enable first aid and resuscitation to be
provided whilst maintaining proper workplace health and safety standards and
protection for police officers.

26. People in custody should not be left unmonitored under any circumstances. The Police Commissioner should conduct an urgent review to ensure that this practice is not
undertaken elsewhere in Queensland and that staffing levels are adequate to ensure that
persons kept in custody are never left unmonitored.


INVESTIGATION OF MULRUNJI’S DEATH

27. The involvement in the investigation of Mulrunji’s death of officers from Townsville
and Palm Island was inappropriate and undermined the integrity of the investigation.

28. In all deaths in custody, officers investigating the death should be selected from a
region other than that in which the death occurred. The OPM should be amended to
require this.

29. The OPM should be amended to require the appointment of the officer in charge of.

30. The OPM should be amended to make explicit the need to consider, when selecting
officers for involvement in an investigation of a death in custody, the impartiality and
the appearance of impartiality in the conduct of the investigation.

31. The involvement in the investigation of Mulrunji’s death of officers who knew Senior Sergeant Hurley personally, or were friends with him, was inappropriate and
compromised the integrity of the investigation.

32. The OPM should be amended to explicitly require officers involved in an investigation into a death in custody to disclose any relationship with an officer involved in, or a witness to, that death.

33. The investigation’s appearance of impartiality was further undermined by the following conduct:-

• It was inappropriate for Hurley to meet the investigating officers at the airport upon
their arrival;

• It was inappropriate for Hurley to drive the investigators to the scene of Mulrunji’s
arrest; and

• It was completely unacceptable for investigators to eat dinner at Hurley’s house
while the investigation was being conducted.

34. The OPM should be amended to more clearly state the need for officers involved in an investigation to consider the impartiality and the perception of impartiality in the
conduct of the investigation at all times.

35. The discussion by Senior Sergeant Hurley of the death of Mulrunji with Sergeant Leafe and Police Liaison Officer Bengaroo prior to being interviewed was inappropriate and contrary to the OPM. It had the potential to undermine the integrity of the investigation and undermine the appearance of integrity of the investigation.

36. The OPM should be amended to require the officer in charge of an investigation of a
death in custody to instruct officers involved in, or witness to, the death not to discuss
the matter with other witnesses prior to being interviewed.

37. Consideration should be given by the Police Commissioner to the training officers
receive to ensure they are aware of their obligations under the OPM if involved in
deaths in custody. In particular the Commissioner should ensure that officers strictly
comply with section 16.24 (vi) to (viii) of the OPM and immediately arrange for the
next of kin to be notified where a death in custody occurs.

38. The CMC should be actively involved in all investigations into deaths in custody from the outset. Consideration should be given to having a senior officer of the CMC
involved in all investigations into deaths in custody.

39. Difficulties in cross-cultural communication between police and Aboriginal witnesses may have impaired the effectiveness of the investigation of this matter by police. Significant attention should be given by the Police Commissioner to the training of officers, particularly those who are working in or near large Indigenous communities
such as Palm Island in relation to communication with Indigenous people and the use of
support persons and interpreters. This is a matter that is fundamental to the effective
and fair administration of justice in Queensland.

40. The OPM should be amended to include, as an appendix, Chapter 9 of the Supreme
Court of Queensland Equal Treatment Benchbook on ‘Indigenous Language and
Communication’. The OPM should direct officers to follow and apply the contents of
that chapter to the greatest extent possible.