Forget the inquest - it's time for a royal commission

The Queensland Greens today called on the state government to establish a royal commission into the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee and subsequent events on Palm Island.  The Greens were responding to the decision of a District Court judge who has set aside the original inquest findings of September 2006 and ordered a fresh inquest.

'The decision to order a fresh inquest appears callous,' Queensland Greens spokesperson Libby Connors said today.  'It is hard to see how justice could be served when one of the most important Aboriginal witnesses, the man in the next cell, has since suicided.'

The Palm Island community is still dealing with the grief and trauma that has flowed from Mulrunji's death in custody in November 2004 but it seems that there is to be no official support or restitution for these families, just more hardship and heartache worsened by official indifference.

The Greens claim that the only way many of the discrepancies and anomalies surrounding the events on Palm Island can be thoroughly laid to rest is through a royal commission.  They say that such a commission needs to investigate:

·        The botched internal investigation by the police.

·        The failure to release the official police report into their handling of the case.

·        Why no police officer has been disciplined despite sworn evidence of improper procedures.

·        Claims that Sgt Hurley has a record of aggravated assault against Aboriginal people.

·        The use of extreme force by police against families and householders on the island the morning after the riot which had been triggered by news of the autopsy report and of Mulrunji's extensive injuries.

·        The failings of the Queensland police service to follow recommendations of the 1991 royal commission into deaths in custody.

'Until we have a wide and full sworn inquiry, Aboriginal people will continue to believe that the criminal justice system is hopelessly biased against them.

'The Queensland police force appears intent on pursuing narrow procedures which are anti-Aboriginal and to fail to answer questions about their own behaviour.

'It is time to for the Queensland Government to begin to re-dress the imbalance in this state's relations with Indigenous people with a broad inquiry into all these events.'

Contact: Libby Connors 0429 487 110