Sydney rally over Kwementyaye Briscoe's death in Alice Springs police custody

isja and other activist supporters will be rallying on friday 12/10 at 12.30pm outside the central courts in liverpool street, between george and pitt streets.
 
the reason for the rally is to support the briscoe family in their continuing struggle for justice. the media report below explains in clear detail the reason we are holding the rally.
 
whilst we support the coroner's and nt government's wishes to reduce alcohol abuse in the nt, such controls are only being racially aimed at the aborigines residing in the nt but not at the many drunken tourists and non-aboriginal residents of the nt. 
 
though coroner greg cavanagh in his inquest was absolutely scathing of the police brutality of the assaults perpetrated against mr briscoe, along with a criminal lack of duty of care during his time in the alice springs police station prior to his unnecessary death, as the attached report explains, no police officer was charged with the death of mr. briscoe.
 
yes, mr briscoe was in a total inebriated state and he was picked up for protective custody for the 32nd time but does this not surely underline the failure of the nt system, whether clp or labor, to assist alcoholics to overcome their debilitating health problems. alcoholism is not an aboriginal problem. it is a social health problem for all stratum of society. it has been shown time and time again that, percentage-wise, more non-aborigines drink than do aborigines. we do, however, have too many extremely heavy drinkers who are much more public with their day to day illness. 
 
the nt floats on alcohol and drinking is the order of the day and/or night. some drinking holes in alice springs open what they term as the animal bars for aboriginal drinkers. a few hours later they are shut and the drinkers are then forced to buy take-away alcohol at highly inflated prices when compared to the draught ale. the nt government and alice springs council know that there are way too many alcohol outlets but argue that alice springs is a tourist town and cannot shut any of the outlets down. they can and they should but what needs to be done is to fully recognise that continual inebriation is an illness and must be treated as such.
 
there is a great need for sobering up centres and a policy of taking the person home if it is safe for the family to be done. rehab centres also must be built to assist the drinker to overcome his or her illness. all these centres are just not for aborigines but for all problem drinkers. police cells should not be used, the person should, as the coroner kept repeating, be taken to the hospital. shutting down the animal bars would be a good start. i admit to being ok with mandatory rehabilitation for both alcohol and drugs but only after everything else has been tried. i have travelled in that glass canoe to nowhere but i was able to stop drinking some 25 years ago but some of our brothers and sisters are not that strong and will need assistance but it is not merely a government decision, it must be done in full collaboration with the elders or significant others who can speak for the communities and families.
 
the current stronger futures act does not give us hope that this will happen but we must at least continue to call for it.
 
another problem we must continue to call for it to be stopped is the usual practice of non-aboriginal australia of blaming the victim. such practices have been foisted upon our people for over 200 years and all it has done is pushed us further into the muck and mire of racism and wasted billions of dollars.  
 
as i stated earlier, coroner cavanagh constantly berated the nt police officers and their criminal attitude towards those to whom they have a duty of care and yet made no recommendation that any of the ten officers on duty that night who proved to be demonstrably negligent were found by him to be worthy of his legal consideration. previous recommendations that he had made in other death in custody cases were either ignored or, if implemented, had been dismantled by the nt police commissioner as being too costly or, in his opinion, unnecessary. such blind ignorance only leads to further deaths in custody.
 
my argument here is fully supported by the words of george newhouse, of the australian lawyers alliance, who made representations to the coroner on behalf of the family of mr briscoe. see attachment.
 
george is quite right in his particularly well chosen words that come down to the point that until the system gets fair dinkum in investigating and adjudicating death in custody events in the full glare of the legal spotlight whereby the custodial systems and the officers who work within them are to be held as accountable for their actions as every other citizen of this country, then and only then will we ever get real justice and not continuing whitewashes.
 
when mark burgess, ceo of the australian police federation, at a recent forum gloated that mr. briscoe had died as a result of a health problem, i challenged him on that interpretation but, on reflection, he was right to say that. what he also should have added however is that the death of mr briscoe was brutally exacerbated by the actions and non-actions of the police on duty that fateful night. but the system is also to blame for not recognising that mr briscoe had an alcohol problem and should have initiated assistance for him when he was picked up the 15th time, the 20th time, the 25th time. how morally blind is our system that they so easily refuse to recognise their duty of care to its citizens, regardless of race or colour. 
 
we fully support the briscoe family in their call to stop the humiliating and derisory attempt to push the blame for his death onto the victim. the death of mr briscoe, indeed, was a health problem but it was also a racist police problem as much as it was a problem of extraordinary proportions for a racist government and the society that they govern.
 
we call on the chief minister to drop the blame the victim game and concentrate on looking at the problem holistically. look at your racist police. look at your failing health systems and look deeply into the aboriginal communities and restore the federal government monies that all nt governments have fraudulently stolen from those communities. i know it will come as a surprise to you, chief minister, but our people also have answers but have they been invited to address the issues?
we are all part of the problem so it needs to be worked out together.
 
come join us at the rally to support the briscoe family and the call for justice.
 

 
Sky News
Protest set for NT alcohol meeting
Updated: 04:49, Friday October 5, 2012
Protesters are preparing to rally outside a meeting in Alice Springs on alcohol reform called in response to a coroner's recommendation following an Aboriginal death in police custody.
On Friday Northern Territory Deputy Chief Minister Robyn Lambley, the NT Licensing Commission, community groups and others are meeting in Alice Springs to discuss how to reduce the impact of alcohol in the town.
The meeting was one of the recommendations of NT Coroner Greg Cavanagh when he investigated the death of Kwementyaye Briscoe, who controversially died in police custody in January.
Too much alcohol combined with obstruction of his airways was listed as the cause of death of Mr Briscoe, whose death the coroner said was entirely preventable and caused by inadequate care while in police custody.
Protesters, including some members of Mr Briscoe's family, have vowed to rally outside the meeting.
Patricia Morton-Thomas, the aunt of Mr Briscoe, has said she was insulted her nephew's name had been used to push the agenda of the Country Liberal Party (CLP) government and that she wasn't invited to address those gathered.
'I would like to know what the deputy chief minister is doing to change the culture of racism ingrained in the Northern Territory police force,' Mrs Morton-Thomas said in a recent statement.
The CLP government, which came to office in August, has abandoned a banned drinkers register championed by the former Labor Party administration and has said they will focus on mandatory rehabilitation for problem drunks.
Mrs Morton-Thomas described the planned rehabilitation centres as 'concentration camps for black drinkers'.
'The Country Liberals are directly responsible for the alcohol crisis,' she said.
She said in the 1980s, when the CLP was in power, Aboriginal organisations sought in vain to have limitations on the number of liquor licences issued in the NT.
Friday's meeting will also include representatives from the Alice Springs Town Council, the People's Alcohol Action Coalition, Central Australian Aboriginal Alcohol Programs Unit, St John Ambulance, and the Australian Hotels Association.
In a statement ahead of the meeting, Ms Lambley said the overwhelming majority of delegates at the meeting live locally.
'While there may be differences in views, the overwhelming motivation of all those in the room is to reduce the harmful effect of alcohol consumption on individuals, families and communities in Central Australia,' Ms Lambley said.
The NT government has come under fire from some groups because its measures to tackle alcohol abuse do not focus on reducing the supply of alcohol or putting a floor price on takeaway drinks.

 
 
ray jackson
president
indigenous social justice association
 
isja01@internode.on.net
(m) 0450 651 063
(p)  02 9318 0947
address  1303/200 pitt street waterloo 2017
 
www.isja.org.au
 
we live and work on the stolen lands of the gadigal people.
 
sovereignty  treaty  social justice
 

NT Deputy Chief Minister’s announcement not to discipline officers who contributed to death in custody, a disgrace – ALA

Friday, 5 October 2012

A lawyer representing the family of a man who died in a Northern Territory watchhouse, earlier this year, has labelled the Deputy Chief Minister’s announcement today, not to discipline the officers who contributed to his death, as shameful.

"Deputy Chief Minister, Robyn Lambley’s announcement is a disgrace. We have been pressing for the DPP to press criminal charges against the officers involved.

Now we find that the Northern Territory Government doesn’t even propose disciplining those whose duty it was to care for Mr Briscoe, while inside the watchhouse, and who directly played a role in his death," Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman and Shine lawyer George Newhouse, said.

Mr Newhouse is representing the family of 27-year-old Kwementyaye Briscoe who died at the Alice Springs watchouse in January.

Coroner, Greg Cavanagh found that the 27-year-old had died through a combination of police error, intoxication and asphyxiation and that inadequate care provided to meet Mr Briscoe, while in their care, contributed to his death.

"If a couple in the Northern Territory had left their child to die in the awkward physical position that Mr Briscoe was left in, while they went to play video games, the Northern Territory Government would be prosecuting them with the full strength of the law," Mr Newhouse said.

"Yet, Mr Briscoe was taken into custody and left in such a vulnerable physical position, while officers played on their iphones and computers," he said.

"We’ve had a Royal Commission and a series of coronial inquests to try to fix this problem, but sadly after 25 years nothing has changed.

The 1987 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody found custodial authorities had "little appreciation of and less dedication to the duty of care" to persons in custody. 

It also criticised the system for not investigating each death fully, noting that most investigations were "perfunctory and from a narrow focus"

"Only when officers are held accountable through criminal or disciplinary actions can the culture of disregard for human life by prison authorities, particularly towards Indigenous people, be changed," Mr Newhouse said.

For more details, contact ALA public affairs manager, Mandy Wyer, 0418 270 656 or ALA spokesperson, George Newhouse, 0422 255 109.