FEDERAL government funding for the Northern Territory should be withheld until an independent commission investigates police conduct in Yuendumu's latest death in custody.
The Central Land Council chair, Warren Williams said the NT was the only state or territory that does not have an independent body to investigate police conduct. As a result, the NT has failed to overhaul the culture of its police force.
Mr Williams, who lost two loved ones in one week, called on the Federal government to cease NT funding until it agreed to set up an independent 12-month inquiry, led by the NT Coroner to investigate the death of Kumanjayi White.
He said the investigation must target officers with a history of complaints and racist attitudes.
Mr William's nephew Kumanjayi White died in police custody in Alice Springs during National Reconciliation Week.
Later in the week a respected 68-year-old Wadeye elder, who studied teaching with Mr Williams at the Batchelor Institute, died in hospital following his arrest at Darwin airport.
Mr Williams said the fact that the NT police have no independent oversight makes the desolation and sorrow gripping his community so much harder to bear.
"The NT government receives a lot of federal funding to address the inequality our people suffer. That funding must not be used for systems that hurt us."
Letters from around 800 Territorians and calls by community leaders, legal experts and politicians for an investigations at arms length from the NT police have been dismissed by chief minister Lia Finocchiaro as "uneducated".
Mr Williams thanked Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy for supporting an independent inquiry despite it being dismissed by the prime minister.
"She understands my community needs confidence in the police, and that trust has been eroded."
He also acknowledged "all the good people who gathered in sorrow and solidarity".
A national wave of grief and outrage started with a vigil and smoking ceremony at the Coles supermarket in Alice Springs, where Kumanjayi took his last breaths in the lolly aisle, reportedly with an off-duty policeman's knee on the back of his neck.
Mr Williams does not believe the protests will change the minds of the NT government.
"Let me be clear: Only money will force the NT government to act. Our lives are worth less than a chocolate bar to those in power and money is the only language they understand."
He called for Ms McCarthy to respond quickly. "I hope the minister supports our request and ensures the coroner is well-resourced so they can conclude their inquest within a year," he said.
CLC chief executive, Les Turner asked how this death could happen, more than 30 years after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommended that complaints against police be investigated by an independent body.
"That an alleged shoplifting attempt by a cognitively impaired person ended in his death tells us that, tragically, too little has been learnt from the past."
The Country Liberal Party government has been in office for less than a year and has already broken multiple promises to Aboriginal communities, while the CLC remains very concerned about the rates of incarceration and child removals.
"We don't trust this government and its police force to keep us safe," Mr Williams said.
"NT police talk of reform and anti-racism strategies is just that – talk. It's time for the federal government to hold the NT accountable and force the change we so desperately need."
This is an article from Land Rights News July 2025. Read the full paper here.
