"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."
This was a key recommendation — one among 339 — handed down in 1991 by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Since then deaths in police custody have continued, and the death of Mulrunji (Doomadgee) on Palm Island in November 2004 could have been just another brutal death in custody statistic.
But it wasn't, because this time the community on Palm Island had had enough and marched on the police station in protest. During this action the police station was burnt down.
The militant response to Mulrunji's death was an opening shot in a campaign that was to last for the next two years as the state government, judiciary and police force actively sabotaged all attempts to pursue a rigorous and accountable investigation into the Aboriginal man's death. But on Invasion Day, January 26, it was announced that Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley would be charged with manslaughter for the unlawful killing of Mulrunji.
While this result is a major win for Indigenous Australians, it is also indicative of what Sam Watson, the leader of the campaign, called "an Indigenous political renaissance".
The campaign for justice was driven by a resurgence of protest politics from within the Indigenous community that marginalised the layer of conservative Aborigines who Labor and the Coalition had cultivated nationally as the community's default leadership.
This generated a burgeoning sense of confidence and empowerment, driven by a succession of militant rallies and protest marches. New activists stepped forward to articulate community concerns and anger. Warriors from past battles were inspired to re-commit to the struggle and a conscious attempt was made to emphasise the continuity of Indigenous political resistance. The nebulous politics of reconciliation was swept aside by very clear perspectives emerging from this new, more radical, leadership.
As Koori activist Jenny Monroe told the Brisbane Invasion Day rally goers: "I'm a fighter from New South Wales, and I like to see other Black fighters. That's why I'm here with you today because you are still standing and you are still defying this racist government and you are still saying 'It's not good enough, your apologies, your sell outs, they're all not good enough. What we want is justice. What we want is our land back. What we want is our sovereign right to decide what we want, when we want it and how we want it for ourselves, for our children and our children's children'."
It was this sort of determination that created a crisis for Premier Peter Beattie's Labor government. When Deputy Coroner Christine Clements ruled that Hurley was responsible for Mulrunji's death, the subsequent refusal by Director of Public Prosecutions Leanne Clare to charge Hurley exposed the servile relationship that existed between the state's police force and its DPP.
Labor's accommodation to the state bureaucracy — embraced despite the collapse of the corrupt Joh Bjelke Petersen National Party government — came under enormous strain as Beattie resorted to apologetic legalese to excuse his inaction.
But by this time, the most senior Indigenous public servant and celebrated police corruption whistle-blower Col Dillon had resigned, last December, and any anti-racist credit the ALP could claim, had been spent. Beattie was finally forced to concede to the Aboriginal movement's demands and arrange a review of the DPP's decision by an interstate judge.
Now he has turned his attention to trying to placate the Queensland Police Union (QPU) that has launched a protest campaign of industrial action against Hurley's manslaughter charge. In effect, the QPU is demanding that its membership be placed above the law, and that police have a right to kill and abuse Aborigines with impunity.
As the union and Beattie debate the future of policing, the chronic disregard shown towards the recommendations of the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody has exposed how institutionalised racism is in Queensland. The firing of a gun, by police, to scare off a crowd from approaching the police station at the north Queensland Aboriginal community of Aurukun on January 10 illustrates this point well.
Lex Wotton told the Invasion Day protest: "We don't have anything to reconcile about. We didn't commit the murders." Wotton is alleged to have been a leader of the 2004 protest on Palm Island in which the watch house was torched. "I'm not going to back down to anything because I know I have you people behind me and that's all I need", he declared.
The January 26 rally ended with protest organiser Sam Watson telling Wotton to cheers and applause: "Brother, you're not a criminal! You're a warrior!"