NSWCCL affirms our heartfelt support for the Black Lives Matter movement and its goals in seeking to eradicate systemic racism from our societies. We encourage all our members and those sympathetic to the cause of human rights and civil liberties to likewise support the BLM movement in any way reasonably possible.
NSWCCL has always acknowledged the pervasiveness of institutional racism in Australian society, ever present even 232 years after the brutal colonisation of this continent on racist terms. We strongly support all attempts to remedy this history of injustice and end the systemic disadvantage faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Foremost among the injustices committed against indigenous peoples are those perpetrated by the criminal justice system.
Discrimination and unreasonable violence at the hands of police is an ongoing concern, as the cases of David Dungay Jr and the incident in Surry Hills recently emphasised. There have been 434 indigenous deaths in custody since the 1991 Royal Commission – including the recent death of Tanya Day, which the coroner found to be preventable – and its recommendations have never been fully implemented. To our knowledge, no one has ever been convicted in relation to those deaths. Indigenous peoples are over-policed and over-incarcerated, with adults 15 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-indigenous Australians and juveniles 26 times more likely to be incarcerated. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported in December 2019 that while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up around 3 per cent of the total Australian population, they account for 29% of the total adult prisoner population in Australia.
NSWCCL calls for the implementation of the 1991 Royal Commission recommendations and the recommendations in the Uluru Statement from the Heart as a start in the ongoing struggle to end these shameful outcomes.
In relation to the protests on June 6, 2020, NSWCCL supported the right of people to rally in accordance with the decision of the NSW Court of Appeal authorising the assembly. It seems the protests were orderly and respected the public health imperative while remaining truly powerful. Police and protestor seemed largely to demonstrate appropriate respect and restraint. However, the worrying incident at Central Station involving the pepper spraying on protestors may raise serious questions.
Community anger and distress over the last-minute moves by the government and the police to prohibit the protest rally would not be so strong had it not been for the unexplained inconsistency in official responses. For example, a recent protest in Sydney boasted of thousands of attendees in clear contravention of the Public Health Orders and the government and police reacted very differently. There was also widespread confusion over the inconsistency between the response of the South Australian Government and Police to protests in Adelaide, which was to exempt that protest from the effect of the COVID-19 regulations, and the response in NSW.
We urge all parties to bring their attention to driving systemic changes to achieve much needed justice for Indigenous Australians and continue exercising the restraint called for in a liberal society governed by the rule of law.
