Northern Territory Aboriginal domestic violence inquest issues 35 recommendations

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A landmark Northern Territory inquest into the domestic violence deaths of Aboriginal women has come to an end. 95 witnesses gave evidence over 16 months, following which Coroner Elizabeth Armitage has made 35 recommendations which include more funding and specialised training for police and health staff

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00:00Kumanjai Heywood, Kuman Rabuncha, Miss Unupingu and Nyago Rugerk, four women whose lives and

00:10deaths paved the way for a landmark investigation.

00:14All of these women were daughters and sisters and aunties and some of them were mothers.

00:19Together their stories help us understand the nature of the problem.

00:24Today evidence from 95 witnesses over 16 months culminated in a series of findings

00:30and recommendations to address what Coroner Elizabeth Armitage described as a plague and

00:36a national shame.

00:38Our combined responses are too narrow, too piecemeal, too small, too ineffective and

00:45they are often culturally ill-informed and culturally inappropriate.

00:50Among the 35 recommendations, the coroner called for a peak body to be established,

00:55ongoing specialised training for frontline police and health staff, a permanent anti-police

01:01domestic violence unit and most significantly sufficient funding for services aimed at intervening

01:07early and preventing violence in the first place.

01:10Before family members of the women killed, the coroner urged the government to immediately

01:15release $180 million in funding promised ahead of this year's Northern Territory election.

01:21Given the recent loss of life and the extent of the horror, no further delay can be tolerated.

01:29Experts say the recommendations are common sense.

01:33They're not radical and they need to be implemented.

01:37Police vowed to take them seriously.

01:40It's a wake-up call to make sure we can do everything we can in our power to make a difference

01:44and protect the most vulnerable people in the territory.

01:46The government wouldn't commit to any recommendations yet, saying time is needed to review them

01:52in detail.

01:53But with eight women killed in alleged acts of domestic violence in the last five months,

01:58time is something the Northern Territory can't afford to waste.

02:02The coroner announced she will be conducting another inquiry in August next year to review

02:08progress made on these recommendations.

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