David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The sickening regularity of deaths of First Nations people in custody is cause for national shame. It's indeed cause for international condemnation of our country, our government and this place. More than 540 First Nations people have died in custody since 1991. This is not an accident. First Nations deaths in custody are the product of a racist criminal justice system which overpolices First Nations communities, of systematic disadvantage, of courts that are more likely to send First Nations people to prison and of prisons that are unsafe in structural and systemic ways. And all these, as Senator Cox made clear, are the result of political decisions by parties in this place who won't stand up when powerful police associations demand more powers and more resources, and by those who are more interested in funding new prisons and new cells than programs to support communities or even in listening to communities in the first place.

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was announced in 1987, more than 35 years ago, and it was in response to the shocking and awful deaths of First Nations people, including 16-year-old John Pat from WA, who died in a police cell in 1983. John Pat was brutally murdered by police, who beat him to death outside of a police station, and no-one has ever been found guilty of his murder. In fact, in the 234 years since the invasion of this land, not a single prison officer has been convicted for a black death in custody. This is why the common chant at First Nations rallies rings across this country and rings so true: 'They say accident. We say murder.'

The royal commission made crucial recommendations to make prisons less dangerous, an obvious one being the removal of hanging points in cells—a simple matter to undertake, you would think, when we're seeing billions and billions of dollars spent on new and expanded prisons. But, 32 years later, there are thousands and thousands of prison cells in this country that still contain hanging points, where desperate people can and do hang themselves. So, when we're told by the former government or by this government that it's fixed, that the recommendations have been implemented, it's a downright lie, and it's a lie that is killing First Nations people.

The lack of proper medical care in prisons is also a deadly assault. It's a deadly assault on First Nations inmates. Our supposedly universal healthcare system literally stops at the doors of a prison and often, therefore, fails to meet those who most urgently need help—like Douglas Shillingsworth, who died in a New South Wales prison following an ear infection. 'Mootijah' means 'the strong one', which was his name in Murrawarri language. He was killed by an ear infection, because of inadequate care. We need to urgently put Medicare into prisons, and we need that Medicare delivered by Aboriginal controlled health organisations so it delivers the culturally safe care that First Nations people need. (Time expired)