home | news l

Mundine warns of civil disobedience

By Annabel Stafford, Canberra

12 January 2006 - FEDERAL Labor Party president Warren Mundine has warned that Aboriginal workers may not turn up to work and children may skip school as part of a civil disobedience campaign similar to the one against apartheid.

He said plans for Aborigines to mark Australia Day with "a celebration of survival" have been scrapped in favour of "a call for justice", though he would not reveal whether this meant protests.

But Mr Mundine has spoken of other possible responses. "I don't condone it, but by the sound of the voices on the ground … every time a copper turns up to a black community … you can expect trouble," Mr Mundine said.

His comments come after rioting mobs this week trashed police stations in two remote Aboriginal communities: Aurukun in Queensland, 100 kilometres south of Weipa, and Maningrida in the Northern Territory, 500 kilometres east of Darwin.

Mr Mundine said that, following the handling of the 2004 death in custody of Palm Island man Mulrunji Doomadgee, Aborigines had lost faith in the justice system.

The controversial decision not to charge Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley over Mr Doomadgee's death — despite a coronial finding that he had caused it — is being reviewed by former NSW chief justice Sir Laurence Street.

"We have had a gutful … and that's people from the upper echelons, the highly educated, right down to the poor and impoverished," Mr Mundine said. As a first step towards justice, those in jail for rioting on Palm Island should be freed and charges against them dropped.

It was a "complete double standard" that mother Alissa Norman should be put in jail for "tossing a stone" while Senior Sergeant Hurley was free, he said. Ms Norman was sentenced to community service, but the Queensland Government successfully appealed, resulting in a jail term.

Mr Mundine said: "Do not underestimate the anger and the heartbreak in the Aboriginal community over this."

"These things have been said before, but you're dealing with a different Aboriginal population than you were in the 1970s. I've just been to a conference and there were over 140 Aboriginal lawyers, over 100 Aboriginal doctors, there were hundreds of Aboriginal teachers and guess what? They're all angry."

Source: The Age

Further information: palm island issues page - includes news index and external links