Warlpiri elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves has joined growing calls for federal intervention into law and justice policies in the Northern Territory, in a letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Speaking at the Garma Festival on Sunday, Mr Hargraves said his community of Yuendemu had “suffered a lot”, and that new laws under the Country Liberal Party (CLP) government had “ripped the guts out of us”.
The outback town has suffered several traumatic losses in recent years — the police shooting death of Kumunjayi Walker devastated the community, and the death in custody of Mr Hargraves’s ‘jaja’, or grandson, Kumunjayi White in Alice Springs earlier this year, adding to the hurt.
Mr Hargraves today read out a letter he had written, addressed to the prime minister, urging him to intervene on the Northern Territory’s Country Liberal Party’s tough-on-crime agenda.
“The NT government is acting from a criminal mindset — like an illegal occupying foreign power,” he said, reading from the letter.
Indigenous incarceration rates have worsened significantly under laws and bail reforms introduced over the past year of CLP governance, with more youth laws introduced in the past week.
Mr Hargraves said the CLP’s policies were archaic, “like something from the 50s or 60s”.
“The CLP government proudly announces that even more of our people will be jailed,” he said.
“They are using their power to destroy us, to take away our rights.”
Anthony Albanese committed funding for a new economic empowerment plan for Indigenous communities at the Garma Festival over the weekend. (ABC News: Che Corley)
Mr Hargraves said he wanted to turn things around for young Aboriginal Territorians, but was losing faith that it would happen.
“Our children and their children’s children cannot be living in fear.”
He said he wrote to Mr Albanese in June, but had not received a response.
He said he hoped to speak with him at length at Garma, but was not afforded the opportunity, and so now planned to travel to Canberra to speak to him directly.
“Take action now. Make history by demonstrating to the Australian public and the international community that you no longer support apartheid laws that continue to oppress First Nations people,” he urged Mr Albanese.
“I say to you, prime minister, you have got the power to turn this around and put a stop to it.
“This is going too long, too far gone.”
Mr Hargraves also reiterated his calls for the police to release the CCTV footage of Kumunjayi White’s death, and demanded that an independent investigation body be established to investigate Aboriginal deaths in custody.
NT Police have previously ruled out the possibility of an independent inquiry.
The NT’s Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Steve Edgington, told the ABC at Garma that his government’s policies “aren’t making things worse”.
Steve Edgington says the CLP government’s tough-on-crime agenda does not disproportionately impact Aboriginal people. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
“What we’re trying to do is get on top of the issues that we’re being faced with coming into government,” he said.
Asked about the over-representation of Indigenous people in prisons, and worsening Closing the Gap targets, Mr Edgington said there were several “systemic problems” at play.
“Coming into government, our focus has been all about reducing crime, rebuilding the economy, and restoring that territory lifestyle,” he said.
“What we’re focused on is improving housing, education, and trying to get those better health communities, but also empowering communities because we believe that decision making in those smaller communities is key to getting better outcomes across the board.”
Collective calls for change
Mr Hargraves is not alone in his criticism of the CLP’s actions.
Many First Nations leaders at Garma Festival this week have spoken out against the party’s approach to crime reduction, following the Northern Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency’s (NAAJA) calls for emergency intervention in June.
The CLP government has remained steadfast in its agenda, justifying the incarceration of record numbers of First Nations people as part of its election promise to crack down on crime.
The prime minister told crowds at Garma yesterday that “the privilege of government is the chance to serve this nation and to change it, to leave it for the better”.