In 2024, Leanne Liddle was tasked with developing an anti-racism strategy through her role in the Northern Territory Police Force. The Executive Director of Cultural Reform Command has described the role as one of the hardest jobs of her life. The first phase of the strategy, to be delivered by 2027, includes providing anti-racism training for all police employees.
00:01Leanne Little, thank you for joining Stateline.
00:04Thanks for inviting me.
00:06Why does the Northern Territory Police Force need a racism strategy?
00:10Well, it's no secret.
00:12We've been exposed in the public arena through coronials and other means
00:17that we have a problem within the Northern Territory Police Force.
00:21Racism exists in our police force and we need to fix it.
00:24For people who don't know, what does systemic racism look like?
00:29I think people are well aware of when it's overt racism,
00:34when it's racism that it's name-calling or it's very evident behaviours
00:42that we would find unacceptable.
00:44What is really difficult is when there are certain actions in policies or procedures
00:52or even in legislation that identifies those actions disadvantaged and disadvantaged even more.
01:01And they sit there unaddressed.
01:04People think it's business as usual.
01:07It's just the way we do things around here.
01:10A lot of people won't question the outcome and the unfairness and the hurt and harm
01:15that those actions or policies deliver.
01:19The police racism strategy sets out to eliminate racial profiling and discrimination
01:24towards Aboriginal Territorians.
01:26Is there an example of that happening during your time working on this review in the force?
01:31Yes, I've experienced and reviewed and seen lots of examples of racial profiling.
01:38People might ask the race of a particular person when it's not relevant to a call out and so forth.
01:50People might align certain characteristics and therefore have biases in front of them that Aboriginal people are heavy drinkers.
02:01They don't look after their kids.
02:03The stereotypes are layered and it's something that I've seen whilst I've been working with police.
02:14As an Arendal woman at the forefront of this review, how hard has it been for you personally?
02:19To do this work with police?
02:22You know, I got brought up tough.
02:24I've been a former police officer.
02:27I know how the system works.
02:30I think this is probably one of the hardest jobs that I've ever had to do in my life.
02:36But I see that opportunity as a privilege and, you know, I want to see change.
02:43And I can see change already happening, as I have said, with a lot of officers coming forward and reporting matters.
02:50Has there been any pushback within the force with respect to the work that you're doing?
02:55No.
02:56I sit on the executive table in the Northern Territory Police Force where the decisions are made.
03:02In fact, I've had nothing but support.
03:04The pushback, I would say, would be from some of those parties that we've lodged complaints against and been investigating and, you know,
03:12dealt with those matters where there has been inappropriate behaviour in the police force.
03:17It's not a nice, pleasant experience, A, to be, you know, to allege racism, let alone to find that it's occurred.
03:26Can you give an indication of how many officers are under investigation currently for racism against Indigenous Territorians?
03:34It keeps me busy. How's that?
03:37I wouldn't be able to give you the exact figure, but I can say that I'm a very busy woman in a very busy team.
03:43Earlier this month, the Chief Minister, Leah Fanocchiaro, denied that systemic racism was an issue in the force.
03:50How do you go about making change when the highest ranking official in the Northern Territory doesn't think that there's a problem?
03:57I think that's a question that you need to specifically ask the Chief Minister because I can't speak on behalf of her.
04:06Does the Chief Minister's position put this strategy at risk?
04:09Not at all. This strategy will continue. This isn't influenced by politics.
04:16This is an agency document that will go over terms of government no matter who's in power.
04:24Have you had meetings with the Chief Minister to inform her on the work that you're doing and what you've been seeing in the force?
04:30We have had updates provided to her and we have had contact with her in regards to the strategy.
04:39So were you surprised when she denied that systemic racism is an issue?
04:43I think, like I said, a lot of people have difficulty in understanding what systemic racism looks like and how it sits in agencies, particularly agencies like the police force.
04:55Ms Little, how important is it that when we talk about racism within the ranks that we don't paint or police with the same brush as racists, given the enormous work that they do in the Territory and the pressure that they're under?
05:07Yeah, I think it's so important. I think what gets me out of bed every day is the fact that I know that there are good police officers out there who are providing me with a lot of the information that I need to eliminate racism in the police force.
05:25At the moment I'm seeing a lot more good police officers than bad police officers and I think I want those bad racist police officers to be the minority and I want the good police officers to be able to be in a space where they can call out that bad behaviour and report it and know that we will do something about it.
05:46How important is it that this racism strategy isn't lost as just another strategy that sits somewhere on a website?
05:53This isn't going to happen overnight. This is going to take time. But this is a partnership between the community and the Northern Territory Police Force. This isn't an Aboriginal issue. This is actually everybody's issue.
06:08And to be perfectly honest, the heavy lifting is going to have to come from the non-Aboriginal people both inside and outside of the police force because that's where a lot of the power and the privilege sits.
06:23Leanne Little, thank you for joining Stateline.
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