Commissioner backs calls for "No Guns!"

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner,  June Oscar AO has joined mounting calls for no more guns to be carried by police officers in communities.

“Walker’s family have been brave,  courageous, and determined to bring the trial to public attention during  this painful period. And now they continue to call for urgent reforms. I stand with them in their ongoing pursuit of justice for all First  Nations peoples.”

Commissioner Oscar backed the family’s calls for no more guns to be  carried by police in communities.

There have been more than 500 Indigenous deaths in custody since the  Royal Commission, and several recent police shootings of First Nations  people underline the need for immediate action.

In addition to the deaths of Kumanjayi Walker and Joyce Clarke, a  Yamatji woman who was shot by police, a young Indigenous man is  currently in a critical condition after being shot six times by a police  officer near Darwin.

“Mass incarceration and the deaths of First  Nations people when in contact with the justice system must end.”

“For 30 years we have urged Australian governments to implement all  recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in  Custody. We have long held the solutions, and countless inquires and  reports have given us the way forward. But time and again we fail to  effectively implement them, and as a result we continue to see First  Nations men, women and children dying in our so-called justice system.  Enough is enough.

“The mass incarceration and over policing of First Nations people is  driven by systemic and structural problems within the justice system and  beyond it. Until this changes – until we see significant systemic  shifts and investment in the security and health of our communities –  the grave injustice of Indigenous deaths will continue,” Commissioner  Oscar said.