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The findings of the coronial inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker, shot dead by a police officer in a remote community, captures a Northern Territory where the foundations of modern Australia, prisons and police still reflect colonial ideas of law and order.
Kumanjayi Walker (left) and Zachary Rolfe.
Walker, 19, stabbed former police constable Zachary Rolfe with a pair of scissors and was shot three times during an attempted arrest in the remote community of Yuendumu, 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs in November 2019. Rolfe was later charged with murder, manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death and acquitted by an NT Supreme Court jury in 2022.
NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage spent nearly three years inquiring into the shooting and found she could not exclude the possibility that, in addition having distain for “the bosses”, a lack of respect for women, contempt for bush police and an attraction to adrenaline-style policing, Rolfe’s racist views had contributed to the fatal shooting.
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“Mr Rolfe was racist, and he worked in and benefited from an organisation with the hallmarks of institutional racism,” Armitage said. “While it was not possible for me to say with certainty that Mr Rolfe’s racist attitudes were operative in his decisions on 9 November or were a contributing cause of Kumanjayi’s death, I cannot exclude that possibility. That I cannot exclude that possibility is a tragedy for Kumanjayi’s family and community, who will always believe that racism played an integral part in his death and is a taint that may stain the NT police.”
She warned NT Police should not consider Rolfe the only “bad apple” as his racist language and attitudes were found among fellow police in Alice Springs. Further, she condemned the failure of police and health authorities to coordinate movements so that there was no adequate medical care available at Yuendumu to treat Walker as he lay dying. She also made 32 recommendations, including investigating recruitment processes, carrying weapons in communities and strengthening NT Police anti-racism strategies and an investigation into internal NT Police complaints.
The coroner’s findings are another shameful indication of the Northern Territory’s deplorable record on imposing law and order.
Nine years ago, the ABC’s Four Corners program exposed atrocities being enacted on children at Darwin’s Don Dale youth detention centre, including use of restraint chairs and spit hoods. The resulting national outrage prompted then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to foist a royal commission onto a recalcitrant NT government. The commission report in 2017 recommended the centre’s immediate closure. The Darwin administration got around to shifting the children out only last year.
Since the age of 13, Kumanjayi Walker had spent six months each year in some form of custody. Armitage spoke of his history of alcohol and drug abuse. This NAIDOC Week, her findings are another poignant reminder of the disproportionate weight carried by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in dealings with NT Police. This may be a regional tragedy but the Territory government must move decisively to reflect national values.
