The northern territory coroner has been shown further examples of allegedly "racist" awards handed out to an elite unit of the NT Police force. A series of certificates awarded to members of the force's tactical unit have been made public, as the coronial inquest into the 2019 police shooting of Koomanjye Walker continues to investigate the culture of the NT police force.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 Former Northern Territory Police Constable Zachary Rolfe returns to the witness box today
00:05 for further questions over the death of 19-year-old Kumunjai Walker in Yundamoo in 2019.
00:12 Mr Rolfe in his evidence has brought to light a series of racist awards handed out to some
00:19 of the Northern Territory Police Force's most elite members.
00:22 The coroner has now released images of some of these awards which she heard date back
00:28 to 2006.
00:30 The so-called Noogada Award has been the focal point of a lot of the evidence about this
00:35 series of awards.
00:37 The coroner heard it was given to the member who displayed the most outstanding lack of
00:42 hygiene.
00:44 The word Noogada, while a made-up word, did sound Indigenous and the coroner heard it
00:49 had racist connotations.
00:52 We've also heard that the Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy was made
00:56 aware of these awards six months before they were made public by the Northern Territory
01:02 Coroner.
01:03 Michael Murphy, the police commissioner, has now been invited to front the inquest himself.
01:09 While the TRG was not involved in the arrest of Kumunjai Walker in 2019, the Northern Territory
01:15 Coroner throughout this almost two-year inquiry has been examining the culture of the Northern
01:21 Territory Police Force.
01:22 And so this has formed quite a significant part of the inquest's evidence so far.
01:28 Former Constable Zachary Rolfe is no longer a serving member of the Northern Territory
01:32 Police Force and he is expected to continue giving evidence throughout today and tomorrow
01:37 when the inquest is expected to wrap up.
01:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]