Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro’s recent electoral success has been largely credited to ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric, which is why she met with NT Police Association President Nathan Finn within the first few days of taking government. Photo: Facebook/Lia Finocchiaro MLA.
The Northern Territory’s acting integrity commissioner has decided to close the investigation into a tactical unit of the police force, despite historical evidence of racist conduct.
Former president of the South Australian Supreme Court of Appeal, Patricia Kelly SC, was tasked with enquiring into whether the Tactical Response Group (TRG) had at any time in the past 12 years issued awards that were “objectively racist”, and if statutory declarations prepared by five members of the unit rejecting such claims were false.
She was handed the powers to investigate on 25 June by acting NT ICAC Commissioner Naomi Loudon, following allegations made before the NT Coroner by former police officer constable Zachary Rolfe in February.
While her report conceded that awards given to TRG members from 2007, 2013 and 2015 “are evidently on their face racist” and that it would be “difficult to conclude how any person of reasonable intelligence could conclude otherwise”, Ms Kelly said “despite a very thorough investigation there has not been any evidence of any further racist conduct or material produced after 2015”.
NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro in response said that given no adverse findings were made, claims of “systemic racism within the NTPF [Northern Territory Police Force]” had been put to bed.
However Northern Land Council (NLC) Chair Matthew Ryan has clapped back at such a conclusion, saying “it goes against what the NLC hears from our people on the ground”.
“ICAC coming out and saying racism has not been a problem in the last decade, just makes everyone have even less trust in the systems, and that things will get any better,” he said.
“Things can only improve if we start with truth telling.”
Each of the five police officers refuted the allegations made by Mr Rolfe, claiming the “Nugedah” awards were given to TRG members “who had acted in an unhygienic manner” and “had no relationship to race”.
Though Ms Kelly followed legal advice provided to the NTPF and NT ICAC finding there to be “insufficient evidence” that “warrants any further investigation of any potential charge against them”, she noted in her report “this is not the end of the matter”.
Before Commissioner Michael Riches went on indefinite leave in June, he told NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy in a letter that he didn’t see any utility in pursuing an investigation with a view to make adverse findings against general members of the TRG – but the police commissioner should focus on the force as a whole.
For this reason, he decided to offer protections to those members who came forward that ensured their anonymity when cooperating with the inquiry.
After putting a call out in late March, amid the Alice Springs youth curfew, NT ICAC received a number of declarations from former and current NTPF officers. Ms Kelly said in that material, there were some statements “which tend to contradict” those made by the five police officers.
“Even one of the police officers who provided a further declaration on the 1st of May 2024, after being shown some of these images, acknowledged that they contain racist connotations and used language which was inexcusable and offensive.”
On 3 August at Garma Festival, Commissioner Michael Murphy formally apologised to Aboriginal Territorians for the “past harms and the injustices caused by members of the NT Police”. Photo: NLC.
Later in May, Commissioner Riches told the public about two further awards that were too offensive for disclosure. He also noted the NT Government systems, where they were discovered, “did not allow him to access any point in time records before 2015”.
Also, due to the promise of anonymity, the Director of Public Prosecutions and police were not given any of the further declarations – such that legal advice provided back to the NTPF in early September considered there to be “insufficient evidence to charge any of the five named police officers with any offence”.
Other factors played into Ms Kelly’s judgement, including the five officers not having the opportunity to answer the “contradicting” allegations and that ICAC “is not resourced to conduct an ongoing wide-ranging investigation into racism within the NTPF”.
Tantamount to these reasons were the actions being taken by the NTPF to remedy their cultural problems.
This includes Commissioner Murphy’s formal apology to NT Indigenous Communities, and his 1 July appointment of Leanne Liddle to Executive Director Community Resilience and Engagement Command within the NTPF – so she could “drive policy reform with specific reference to the Indigenous community”.
Regardless, the NLC has voiced its disappointment with ICAC NT’s decision not to investigate, with chair Matthew Ryan announcing its ongoing commitment “to demand change to ensure that our constituents feel safe, respected, and heard”.
“We ask the NTPF to work with Aboriginal leaders and communities to confront the issues that continue today.”
