Headline reads "Eighth death in custody looks bad, admits top cop" and the top cop is correct. Eight deaths in one month, and it is only six weeks ago that Rudd was elected on the promise he would be no different to the previous government, except more caring.
Now we know what it means to be more caring.
Of course, the protesters who were quite scathing of the previous government over such major things as tests for migrants are silent over this unimportant issue.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Rudd Administration Brings Familiar Foul Odor
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Eighth death in custody looks bad, admits top cop
By Tara Ravens
ONE of the Northern Territory's top cops today admitted things "look bad" for the force following the eighth death in custody in less than a month.
But NT Assistant Commissioner of Crime and Support Service Mark McAdie defended the actions of the officers involved, saying the deaths amounted to a "tragic set of unfortunate circumstances".
"Any single death looks bad enough but having this coincidence of a number of deaths within a relatively short space of time does look bad," he said.
"But at this point in time there is no reasons to believe it is more than a coincidence."
The most recent deaths both involve police attempting to restrain people.
A 57-year-old man died in police custody on December 28, six days after he was arrested for behaving in a suspicious manner in Darwin.
He was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital where he collapsed during a struggle with police and never regained consciousness.
A 52-year-old man died after he was restrained by police about 4.50pm (CST) on New Year's Day at a house in Driver, just outside the NT capital.
Police said in a statement today that he "apparently stopped breathing" when officers tried to take him into protective custody for drunkenness.
The officers tried to resuscitate the man at the scene but he was pronounced dead soon after arriving at hospital.
"We have no reasons to believe that our members did anything except behave in the most professional and appropriate manners ... notwithstanding the tragic outcome," Comm McAdie said.
"Each of these incidence arises from the actions of other people that essentially cause us to take action."
Comm McAdie said the Major Crime Unit was investigating the death and police would hand the file over the coroner "in due course".
Asked how or why the man was restrained, he replied: "I can't give you exact details about that".
A post mortem examination will be conducted tomorrow and Comm McAdie said the NT force was open to revising its restraining procedure.
"If the investigation leads to the conclusion there needs to be a change in our methodology we will do that," he said.
Six people died in a car accident on December 10 during a police chase in Central Australia.
Their deaths are being treated as deaths in custody as required under the Northern Territory Coroner's Act.
Test knowledge, not cricket
By Denis Peters
ETHNIC groups have backed an overhaul of Australia's new citizenship test after reports that one in five applicants are failing it.
Of the 10,636 people who have taken the test since it was introduced by the Howard government in October, 2311 - about 20 per cent - failed.
Candidates must take a 20-question quiz on Australian history, values and way of life, and show adequate competence in the English language.
The West Australian newspaper reported that new Immigration Minister Chris Evans would review the citizenship test in the wake of the failure rate and could make substantial changes to it.
NSW Anti-Discrimination Board president Stepan Kerkyasharian was critical of the test's content, saying it should rely less on culture and more on practical knowledge about Australia.
"Let's have a test that's practical, that basically finds out whether someone knows enough about the political system," he said.
"It shouldn't be a test of culture but a test of knowledge.
"I'd like to see a citizenship test which is easy to administer, easy to take part in, not sort of couched in high-level English terms, and a test about the political system in Australia and what everyday life in Australia is about, not about what happened 20 years ago in some cricket match."
Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria chairman Sam Afra said his organisation had always believed the new test was discriminatory and would stop many lawful migrants from becoming Australian citizens.
"The news that 20 per cent of applicants are failing the test confirms our fears that the test would exclude people who would otherwise make a tremendous contribution to Australia," he said.
He said prospective citizens with low levels of English, particularly refugees, should be able to take classes rather than sit the test.
This was already an option under existing law through ministerial powers, he said.
"An exemption to allow teaching rather than testing for particular applicants would ensure that Australia remains a welcoming country that does not unwittingly create a permanent underclass of non-citizens," Mr Afra said.
Acting Victorian Premier Rob Hulls said a review of the test was appropriate.
"There has been a number of people that have been unable to answer some of the questions on that test," he said.
"The federal government has indicated that it will have a look at a review.
"Whilst that is a matter for the federal government, I think it is appropriate to have a look at it."
Aboriginal deaths in custody
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aboriginal deaths in custody became a major issue because of a widespread perception that a disproportionate number of indigenous Australians were dying in jail after being arrested by police. This concern was particularly acute in the 1980s, when there was a perception amongst some sections of the community that these deaths were being caused, either directly or indirectly, by the police and prison authorities.
Because of this public concern, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was established in 1987 to investigate the problem. One major finding of this Royal Commission was that the actions of police officers were not the direct cause of these deaths.[1]
A large part of the problem is that a disproportionately high number of indigenous Australians are imprisoned by the law. Contrary to popular belief, the number of indigenous Australians who die in custody is roughly proportional to the total number who are imprisoned, compared to other ethnicities. For example, in 2005, an indigenous Australian is 11 times more likely to be in prison than a non-Indigenous Australian, and in 2003, 20% of prisoners in Australia were Indigenous, and 10 of the 39 deaths that occurred in prison custody (26%) were Indigenous.[2]
A Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was set up in 1987 to investigate allegations of murder of Australian Aboriginals in prison. A central conclusion of the Royal Commission was that "the immediate causes of the deaths do not include foul play, in the sense of unlawful, deliberate killing of Aboriginal prisoners by police and prison officers". The findings were critical of the standard of care afforded to all prisoners, concluding there was "little appreciation of and less dedication to the duty of care owed by custodial authorities and their officers to persons in custody", and that that had contributed to the deaths.[1] It also criticised the system for not investigating each death fully, noting that most investigations were "perfunctory and from a narrow focus and the coronial inquest mirrored the faults in the investigations." Perhaps the most significant recommendation was that "It must never again be the case that a death in custody, of Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal persons, will not lead to rigorous and accountable investigations and a comprehensive coronial inquiry."
Since the Royal Commission, the numbers of Aboriginal deaths in custody has been roughly commensurate with the fraction of prison inmates who are Aboriginal. It is now therefore not clear whether (a) there never was a widespread problem, other than one or two isolated (but nevertheless very significant) incidents, such as the Eddie Murray incident, or (b) there was once a widespread problem, but it has been cleaned up as a result of the Royal Commission.
The issue has recently surfaced again in the 2004 Palm Island death in custody controversy.
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