NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

Today was the second day of the NSW Upper House Parliamentary inquiry into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Gail Hickey, mother of T.J. Hickey appeared before the inquiry this afternoon next to representatives of the Indigenous Social Justice Association (NSW), Faith Black and Raul Bassi. Parents of Tane Chatfield, Colin and Nioka, were also on hand to lend support, after submitting a statement to the inquiry yesterday.

A silent vigil marched past NSW Parliament House during the hearing, carrying placards with images of some of the more than 400 victims of Aboriginal deaths in custody since the 1991 report from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was released.

After about an hour of statements and questions, Gail Hickey left the inquiry in tears, frustrated and distressed by the experience, which she compared with reliving the trauma of the coronial inquest of her son’s death 16 years ago.

The inquiry is expected to hand down its findings early next year.

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Sacred Djab Wurrung Tree Felled

Yesterday, on the same day that the Victorian Government announced the easing of COVID-19 restrictions across the state, VicRoads cut down the sacred ‘Directions Tree’ on Djab Wurrung country. The ancient tree was one of several culturally significant trees that have been at the centre of protest against a $157 million highway upgrade into Ararat to the north-west of Melbourne.

The loss of the tree has been compared to Rio Tinto’s destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters in Western Australia.

Traditional custodians and supporters have been waging a protest to protect the sacred trees at the Djab Wurrung Embassy since 2018. Many protesters have been unable to travel to the site due to the COVID-19 lockdown measures imposed on Melbourne.

Several other sacred trees on Djab Wurrung country continue to remain under threat from being felled due to the roads project.

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Extinction Rebellion - NSW Gvment In Bed With Santos

Yesterday, Extinction Rebellion (XR) held a 'lock-on’ action outside State Parliament to bring attention to the close ties of the NSW government with gas giant, Santos.

Macquarie Street was blocked off for around 20 minutes, as a makeshift bridal bed was suspended outside the gates of Parliament House. Two people - one dressed as the NSW Government, the other as the gas industry - played out making love atop of the bed, and threw fake dollar bills into the air before police and riot squad arrived.

Santos has recently been given the green light to build a gas seam project in the Pilliga forest on Gomeroi country in north-western NSW. The Berejiklian government backed what is known as the Narrabri Gas Project, which was given formal approval by its Independent Planning Commission late last month. More than 850 gas wells are due to be drilled in the Pilliga.

The XR action insisted that the NSW government was ‘in bed’ with fossil fuel interests. The Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, is under pressure for her relationship with former MP and lover, Daryl Maguire. Maguire is currently before the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), which is hearing evidence in relation to dodgy dealings with developers and kickbacks from a range of financial and other business interests.

The Narrabri Gas Project has been described as “an environmental disaster waiting to happen”, and Gomeroi elder, Maria 'Polly' Cutmore compared it to the colonial massacres of Aboriginal people.

Two people were arrested at yesterday's event.

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Sandstone and Jackboots - Protest at Sydney Uni

Several hundred students today protested at the Sydney University campus against the passing of recent legislation which will see funding cuts and fees for some humanities degrees increase by up to 113%. Universities are already expected to lose around 30,000 jobs. Students also railed against the crackdown on political dissent - specifically the ability to protest. This is the sixth rally at Sydney University in recent weeks, in which a large police presence has broken up gatherings, arresting some and issuing many $1000 fines for breaking COVID-19 public health orders.

Today, the action began with with an outdoor seminar on ‘Higher Education and Political Dissent’, held on the lawns of the University’s quadrangle. A large contingent of police and riot squad looked on from a distance. At one point during the seminar, hundreds of students suddenly streamed out of the library and nearby buildings, chanting demands for the end of cuts to education and for ‘cops off campus’.

Using a tactic of recent protests in Sydney to stretch police lines, the students moved at high speed, through the University, down City Road and into Victoria Park, pursued by police. Mounted police also followed but were hindered by students rushing up steps, which the horses were unable to traverse. The rally then moved down to Parramatta Road and eventually back on to campus. There were reports that a Law Professor was caught up in proceedings, knocked to the ground by police and arrested. Several fines were also issued.

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Sydney Thai Protest - Anniversary of Thammasat Massacre

To mark the 44th anniversary of the Thammasat massacre, a contingent of Sydney’s Thai community gathered at the steps of Town Hall on Saturday to demand fundamental political change in Thailand.

Thailand is currently in turmoil, with large persistent protests across the country, despite the COVID situation. The unrest stems from a fragile democratic system under threat, the disappearance of political activists and discontent with the transparency of the actions and finances of the Thai monarchy.

The current turbulence echoes the period leading up to the Thammasat Massascre, 44 years ago. On the 6th of October, 1976, around 50 leftist students were shot, beaten and hanged from trees at Thammasat University by royalist militia and security forces during protests against a return to military dictatorship.

A planned anti-government rally in Bangkok next week is set to draw up to 100,000 people.

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Protect Trans Kids: Kill Latham's Bill - Protest

Between 300 and 500 people gathered at Taylor Square to protest against an anti-Trans bill, which is being put before NSW Parliament by One Nation’s Mark Latham. The legislation is aimed at outlawing “gender fluidity teaching, course development and teacher training” in NSW schools. Trans activists, LGBTQI communities, mental health experts, lawyers and Greens MPs have labelled the bill as “transphobic”, “obscene” and “ideological”.

Today’s rally went ahead, despite being banned by the Supreme Court, as police endeavoured to again suppress yet another protest - as it did the Black Lives Matter protest in July - citing COVID-19 concerns. The court decision came just a day before the NSW government announced that it would permit 15,000 people to attend a major horse race in Sydney and while 40,000 spectators are due to attend the NRL grand final in a few weeks time.

Within a few minutes of speeches beginning at Taylor Square, police moved in announcing a move-on warning. Protesters immediately flooded down Oxford Street and then through Hyde Park in a game of cat and mouse with riot squad members. Protesters were eventually corralled on Elizabeth Street in the CBD, where several people were dragged away, at least one arrested and several others issued with $1,000 fines for contravening COVID-related health orders.

A petition against the Latham bill has attracted over 80,000 signatures.

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Uncle Willie Leslie

Uncle Willie was removed from his family in Moree by authorities at age 12 and taken to the Kinchela Boys Home on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales in the 1960s, notorious for its treatment of Aboriginal boys and symbol of what would become known as The Stolen Generation.

Despite this, Uncle Willie has only good memories of his time at the government-run institution. During these formative years, he grew up making life-long friends amongst the other boys, some who did not fare as well. “Everyone had their own experience", says Uncle Willie of his time at Kinchela.

Leaving the boys home at 18, he worked at a nearby chocolate factory, and eventually made his way down to Sydney, where he excelled at football and then at boxing. Uncle Willie eventually became Australian Boxing Champion in the bantam division.

Today, Uncle Willie works at Eora College. In his spare time, he takes his bicycle around regional NSW and Queensland, cycling around and exploring small country towns, keeping fit in body, mind and spirit.

He reunites with his Kinchela buddies twice a year, and is supported by the Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation.

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Silent March: Stop Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

Yesterday around 40 people in 2 groups of 20 (to adhere to COVID-19 laws) walked from Circular Quay to Sydney Town Hall in a silent march to commemorate Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

This march drew particular attention to the deaths of John Pat and Wayne Fella Morrison, who died in custody on the 28th of September in 1983 and the 26th of September 2016 respectively.

Well over 400 Aboriginal people have died in custody since the recommendations of the Royal Commission were handed down in 1991.

The latest victim - the death of Aunty Sherry Fisher-Tilberoo - occurred in a Brisbane City watchhouse just earlier this month.

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Shadow Catcher

Shot on a Leica M6 TTL, 50mm Summicron f2, Ilford SFX 200 black & white film.

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Reminder of Julian Assange

Two lone protesters walk down George Street in Sydney’s CBD, carrying a sign and a speaker blasting out the song, “Tie A Yellow Ribbon ‘Round The Old Oak Tree”, to remind pedestrians of the current trial in London seeking to extradite Julian Assange to the USA on charges of espionage.

On Wednesday, journalist Daniel Ellsberg, the man who in 1971 famously leaked the Pentagon Papers revealing widespread American political corruption during the Vietnam War, defended Assange in court, equating some of the US actions in Iraq and Afghanistan exposed by Wikileaks to war crimes.

If Assange is extradited to the USA, he could face a sentence of up to 175 years of imprisonment.

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Julian Assange Trial

Protesters unfurl a banner outside Sydney Town Hall last week, bringing attention to Julian Assange’s trial, which is currently underway in the UK.

The court case will determine if Assange can be extradited to the USA after his Wikileaks organisation released materials implicating the USA in atrocities during the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.

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Rawia and Rowaida

Photoshoot with Rawia and Rowaida, sisters from Sudanese refugee backgrounds, excelling in their chosen fields in fashion, in health care and in life.

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Uncle Les Reynolds

Photographs of Uncle Les (Freddy) Reynolds, ex-actor, footballer, and who also worked for the Aboriginal Medical Service. He starred along side Tom E. Lewis in the film, ‘The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith’, as well as in ‘Women of the Sun’.

Uncle Les is also part of the Stolen Generation, having been forcibly removed from his family as a child and taken to the notorious government-run Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home (KBH) near Kempsey in northern NSW, where he suffered immense abuse at the hands of those in charge.

Uncle Les is being supported by the Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation, who support the social and emotional wellbeing of survivors, their families and descendants.

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A Prison With Million Dollar Views - Uncle Des

Photographs of Uncle Des at his 16th floor flat in the Redfern public housing estates. He is on the long waiting list for a new home, which he hopes will be at ground level. Despite what some might consider as million dollar views, Uncle Des says his flat is more like a prison - isolated on one of the top floors of the sprawling estate, away from the community which mingles below and for which he yearns.

Uncle Des is part of the Stolen Generation, having been forcibly removed from his family as a child and taken to the notorious government-run Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home (KBH) near Kempsey in northern NSW, where he suffered immense abuse at the hands of those in charge.

Uncle Des is being supported to find a new flat by the Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation, who support the social and emotional wellbeing of survivors, their families and descendants.

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I Cant Breathe: Black Lives Matter, Justice Now

Yesterday, around 50 people attempted to occupy the vast expanse of the Domain in Sydney to demand justice for Dunghutti man David Dungay Junior, who was killed in Long Bay Jail in 2015 when prison guards rushed him in his prison cell for refusing to stop eating a packet of biscuits. His last words, like those of George Floyd in the USA, were “I can’t breathe.”

The attempted protest in the Domain drew parallels between Dungay’s death and Floyd’s death, tapping into the Black Lives Matter movement which has sprung up around the world in recent months.

Tuesday’s action had been condemned by mainstream media, the government and police, citing COVID-19 safety concerns, despite organisers offering a COVID safety plan. The police took the organisers to the Supreme Court to block the protest and were ultimately successful. The protesters decided to proceed, despite the court’s decision.

A massive police presence met the small crowd at the Domain, quickly arresting a key organiser, Paddy Gibson and five others, and dispersing the rest. Those detained were issued with a $1,000 fine. Groups of police roamed the CBD, ensuring all the protesters had properly dispersed.

Later that day, the family of David Dungay Junior presented a petition with nearly 100,000 signatures to Greens MPs, David Shoebridge and Jenny Leong, at NSW Parliament House, where barricades had been set up along Macquarie Street. The petition called for the prosecution of the prison guards responsible for Mr Dungay’s death. The Dungay family, including mother, Leetona Dungay and nephew, Paul Silva, have been fighting for justice for the last five years.

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Tane Chatfield Coronial Inquest

Photographs from the final day of the coronial inquest into Tane Chatfield’s death in custody.

22-year old Gomeroi, Gumbaynggirr and Wakka Wakka man, Tane Chatfield, was found 'unresponsive' in his cell at Tamworth prison in 2017, after 2 years on remand, without being convicted of any charge. Authorities claimed he had hanged himself.

The circumstances around his death was the subject of inquiry at this week’s hearing at the Coroner’s Court in Lidcombe.

In final submissions, Tane Chatfield’s family spoke powerfully about Tane’s life and the need to reform the justice system including ending systemic racism inside Correctional Services. Father, Colin Chatfield, demanded that “the monstrous loophole”, where correctional services investigated their own, must be closed, while Tane’s mother, Nioka, told the court that “the prison system killed my son”. They called for all Aboriginal people on remand to be released.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on remand are over-represented compared to the rest of the population by a factor of 11. The total population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on remand doubled between 2010 and 2016, and has continued to grow.

At least 438 Aboriginal people have died in custody since the final report of the Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody was handed down in 1991.

The findings of this week's inquiry is expected be released on the 26th of August at the Armidale Local Court.

A GofundMe page has been set up to support the Chatfield family.

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Silent March: Tane Chatfield

Photographs of yesterday's silent march to highlight Aboriginal deaths in custody. Around 70 people gathered at Sydney Town Hall and marched down George Street through the CBD, holding photographs of some of the Aboriginal people who have died in custody. The march ended at the Correctional Services offices near Central Station, where speeches were made and a candlelight vigil was held.

The family of Tane Chatfield were in Sydney for the event. Mother, Nioka and father, Colin, spoke powerfully of their son who died mysteriously in prison in Tamworth in 2017.

Below, Nioka Chatfield writes about the struggle of her family:

”On the 20th September 2017 Our lives were changed forever. Our son Tane had been on remand for two years in Tamworth prison for a crime we believe he did not commit. He was coming near to the end of his trial and had done a fantastic job giving evidence to clear his name. Tane was 22 yrs old with 1 son. We were so excited, thinking he would be home soon. Suddenly we were told by NSW Corrective Service Officers that Tane was in Tamworth hospital and we could have an emergency visit.

When we got there 2hrs later (as we live 2hrs away from Tamworth) we found our beautiful son Tane connected to a life support machine. He was lying there fully naked, only a pair of hospital socks on. It had taken five hours after Tane was hospitalised for them to call us. The staff at the hospital had no answers for us about what had happened to Tane. Corrective Service Officers sat at his door while we cried, we sat and wondered if our boy was going to live or die. Hospital staff told our other children that “your brother’s brain is dying”. He never woke up.

Then began our long campaign for truth and justice, which we continue today.”

At least 437 Aboriginal people have died in custody since the final report of the Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody was handed down in 1991.

Yesterday’s silent march was organised by the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA Sydney).

The inquest into Tane Chatfield’s death starts this week at Lidcombe Coroner’s Court .

Here is a link to a fundraiser to support Tane Chatfield’s family.

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Stop Black Deaths in Custody: Black Lives Matter Protest

Photographs from Sunday’s ‘Stop Black Deaths in Custody: Black Lives Matter’ protest in Sydney’s Domain, Djarrbarrgalli, Gadigal, as well as from ‘Victoria Park Tent Embassy Reclaimed’, highlighting the significance of the Tent Embassy site established there by Aunty Isabel Coe in 2000.

Around 5,000 people attended the peaceful event in the Domain on Sunday, where social distancing was able to be practiced in the wide open space. A contingent of riot squad police watched on as speeches made and ceremonies conducted.

At least 437 Aboriginal people have died in custody since the final report of the Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody was handed down in 1991.

Links to fundraisers to support some of the families can be found below:

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Arrest

A man wearing a Communist Party of Australia T-Shirt is led away by police after Sunday’s ‘Stop Aboriginal Deaths in Custody: Black Lives Matter‘ protest at the Domain in Sydney.

More pics to come.

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