Gerry Georgatos The father and mother of 15 year old Rex Bellotti Jr, and Shilo Harrison, coordinator of the Bellotti Support Group will front a Parliamentary Standing Committee which is considering their call for a public inquiry into the police related incident that left Rex Jnr fighting for his life.
The Western Australian Standing Committee on Environment and Public Affairs has undertaken to consider the call for a public inquiry and at this time is taking submissions, including from the Bellottis and the Western Australian Police.
On March 6, 2009, near midnight, in the WA regional town of Albany, a police four wheel drive struck down Rex Jnr, and left him with injuries that may cost his leg - he was flown by Royal Flying Doctor to Royal Perth Hospital, where 13 hours after the incident he underwent surgery.
The Office of the Commissioner of the Western Australian Police has admitted the investigating officers mismanaged the handling of the investigation. In October 2009, the Corruption and Crimes Commission of Western Australia slammed the handling of the investigation. However, the Western Australian police have failed to settle insurance payments and any compensation - nearly three years after the incident.
Bellotti Support Group coordinator, Shilo Harrison said, "We have had one rally after another, community forums, and we've got the word out that there has been a great injustice. It is important for Rex Jnr, his family, and for all Aboriginal people that we at long last get some justice here."
Ms Harrison said, "The whole nation is watching, they are watching to see where the awareness raising will lead to - will it lead to justice for Aboriginal people, or will it finish up with more injustice. I know where I want it to finish up, and the Bellotti Support Group has achieved much in a short time, and we will not stop."
She said, "We gathered signatures on a petition calling on the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia to convene a public inquiry into what happened to Rex Jnr and into the handling of the police investigation - the inconsistencies are just unbelievable. We handed the petition to Greens MLA Giz Watson and she tabled it in parliament."
"The Legislative Assembly accepted the petition, and backgrounded by so much public highlighting of what happen to Rex Jnr nearly three years ago, well they have referred our calls to the Standing Committee - and we have worked hard on our submission to them."
Once submissions close, they are considered by the Standing Committee and then the various parties are called in to speak to their submissions and be interviewed by the Committee members.
Ms Harrison said, "Our submission highlights the fact the police mishandled the investigation, highlights the fact that they did not seek third party statements - did not get the witness statements - they waited for more than a month, and only did so after news media picked up on the story - and we have highligted conflicting testimonies, including some powerful testimony that at the time should have led to an independent handling of this investigation considering the testimony is hugely adverse to the involved police."
"In our submission we dispute elements of the statements of the involved police officers and we have broken this down meticulously in almost forensic ways - something they should have done at the time, and since," she said.
Rex Jnr's father, Rex Bellotti Snr said, "It's heartbreaking for us, as a family we're struggling to cope. For nearly two and a half years we had the proverbial brush off from everyone, from the police, from other authorities, from social justice groups that pick up on fighting one battle but never the war, and even from our own Aboriginal legal services and justice groups - it was in the too hard basket for them. Where is Mick Gooda when his people really need him? Where are some of our high profile folk when we need them? Why even bother to getting to where they get to if along the way they have to set us aside - this isn't a brave new world, it's cowardice by them."
"We need some justice and we need it soon. The trauma on my family, on my wife, on my other five children is immense - we grieve daily at how we have been treated, and the trauma on my eldest child, Rex Jnr, whose life has been forever changed because he tried to cross a road when he thought it was safe, is devastating - I worry for him day in day out, I worry about his mental state, I have barely slept in the years since the accident."
Mr Bellotti Snr said, "We thank the people who in the last several months have listened to our calls and who formed the Bellotti Support Group, we thank them for travelling to Albany, 400 kilometres from Perth, for a rally in the heart of Albany and for marching up to the Albany Police Station, we thank them for the news media they have generated, for committing Police Commissioner O'Callaghan to a meeting with us, and we are keen to meet with him asap."
"The Standing Committee is a big deal but it will have meant nothing if it does not lead to a public inquiry, if it does not urge the Police Commissioner to at least settle the insurance and compensation for my boy, if it does not lead to a bloody apology for what they did to my boy and in turn to my family," he said.
The Standing Committee on Environment and Public Affairs was first established by the government in August, 2005 and currently chaired by Liberal MLC Brian Ellis, and its members include Labor MLC Kate Doust, Greens MLC Lynn MacLaren, Liberal MLC Phil Edmonds and Nationals MLC Colin Holt. It is assisted by legal advisors and research officers. Early in 2010 the Standing Committee took submissions on the death in custody of Warburton Elder, Mr Ward, however surprisingly did not commit to a call for a public inquiry - the only justice for Mr Ward's family was through a compensation payment through the Office of the Attorney-General and through WorkSafe, through its terms of reference, lodging occupational and safety breaches in the Kalgoorlie District Court.
Ms Harrison said, "There wasn't adequate justice for Mr Ward, and that is an indictment of our systems however Rex Jnr is alive, and that is a major difference here, we have his testimony, and of course that of others, which conflict with what the police have to say. Let us remember that Rex Jnr was not some criminal, had done nothing wrong, and as his father says was never under the watch of any police, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and the police, shame on them, don't have the honour to say they didn't see him crossing the road, when they hit the poor bastard - they need to apologise instead of turning this around and somehow making themselves the victims - I don't see any injuries to them."
She continued, "I do have hopes in the Standing Committee supporting our call for a public inquiry - as I say Aboriginal people everywhere are now watching, the whole nation is watching."
Mr Bellotti Snr said, "Christmas is coming but for us, our third Christmas since Rex Jnr was left near dead, it's a Christmas full of grief, of pain that I wish on no-one. The not knowing when there will be some justice, some closure, when and if the Police will finally do the right thing is killing us, and it's tearing my family apart. Before all this happened my wife and I worked like maniacs, scraped every cent to give all our children a private school education, to get them ahead in this life, to look past all the racism to our peoples, and for them someday to give as much as they could back to our peoples - and now we are near financial ruin, irreparably in debt, with the ongoing medical and convalescence costs for my boy - I worry for all my children, what this is doing to them. Commissioner O'Callaghan has the chance to do something about all this now, and so can others, instead of sitting by while the grief and trauma tears us apart and tosses more of my family into the too hard basket, into statistics..."
Commissioner O'Callaghan has referred the file on Rex Jnr to the WA State Solicitor. He is yet to meet with the Bellotti Support Group. The Bellotti Support Group will coordinate a rally for Justice for Rex Jnr prior to Christmas in the heart of Perth, and in February 2012 will coordinate a 450 kilometre Walk for Justice through six towns in WA's south west, from Albany Police Station and two weeks later finishing up at the steps of Western Australia's state parliament.