Government Covers Up Deaths In Custody Facts
STATEMENT
We have to be careful when we allow our emotions and our desires to “do good”, no matter how well-intentioned they are, to overwhelm the truth.
I hope you will publish this letter so your readers can see some of the facts that were included in my fellow Senator Malcolm Roberts’ motion, which has been twice “denied formality” in the Senate, preventing it from being properly considered.
This was another gang-up by the Liberals and Labor against One Nation and the truth.
The 2020 Australian Institute of Criminology report into ‘Deaths in custody in Australia’ noted that the 2017-18 rate of death in prison custody for: (A) Indigenous persons was 0.14 per 100 prisoners, and (B) non-indigenous persons was 0.18 per 100 prisoners.
The report also noted that the 2017-18 total deaths in police custody and custody-related operations was: (A) three Indigenous persons; and (B) 14 non-indigenous persons.
In the 2017-18 year 79% of indigenous deaths in prison custody were due to natural causes.
Some other facts from the AIC, which is an independent body, reveal that over the decade to 2018: (A) non-Indigenous persons were nearly twice as likely as Indigenous persons to hang themselves in prison custody, and (B) motor vehicle pursuits represented 38% of Indigenous deaths in police custody and custody-related operations.
It’s also interesting to see that from 2006 to 2016, a 41% increase in Indigenous imprisonment rates corresponded with a 42% increase in people identifying as Indigenous.
Myself and Senator Roberts believe these facts are worth noting and debating, no matter what side of the political fence your readers sit.
If we can’t openly debate those things that are sensitive and controversial, we will struggle to find solutions to problems to the benefit of all Queenslanders.
END
This statement was originally sent to newspapers across the nation as a letter to the editor
