00:00The ABC Stateline program has interviewed the architect of the first ever racism strategy
00:07for Northern Territory police officers. Leanne Little has spent more than a year detailing
00:13racism in the ranks with the help of a dedicated command. She says it's been a busy investigation.
00:18I got brought up tough. I've been a former police officer. I know how the system works.
00:26I think this is probably one of the hardest jobs that I've ever had to do in my life.
00:32But I see that opportunity as a privilege and, you know, I want to see change.
00:39It was the coronial inquest into the police shooting deaths of a young Aboriginal man in
00:44Yundamu in 2019 that made public racist attitudes in the Northern Territory police force and
00:50what ultimately sparked this review by police. On Thursday, the Northern Territory's new police
00:56commissioner Martin Dole was with Ms. Little in Alice Springs to announce the anti-racism
01:02action plan. Here's what he had to say.
01:05This strategy is not a witch hunt. It's a pathway forward. It's about building a police
01:11force that truly reflects the territory that we serve.
01:16The Chief Minister, Leah Finocchiaro, who is also the police minister, wasn't at the announcement.
01:22If she denies that systemic racism is an issue in the force, anti-police wouldn't be drawn
01:26on whether the Chief Minister's position puts this strategy at risk.
01:30I think that's a question that you need to specifically ask the Chief Minister because
01:35I can't speak on behalf of her. This strategy will continue. This isn't influenced by politics.
01:44This is an agency document that will go over terms of government no matter who's in power.
01:52It's a whole of organisational reform document.
01:56The ABC has reached out to the Chief Minister for comment with the first phase of this action
02:00action plan to be delivered by 2027.
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