FROM RAY JACKSON ABOUT MS DHU it has been agreed by dic activists around australia, with the agreement of ms. dhus family, for a national day of action to be held on thursday, 23rd october to call on the west australian government, wa police and the wa health services to be called to account for the death of ms. dhu in port hedland recently. isja here in nsw will be holding our support rally at 1pm outside of parliament house, macquarie street, to show and give support to the family in our combined call for justice. that call for justice, however, is not the only call coming out of the west. ms. dhus family have also been calling for an independent enquiry into the causes of her tragic demise and also the call for an urgent inquest to take place. wa premier colin barnett does not support the call for an independent enquiry, he says it is not necessary, but he does seem to keenly support the call for an immediate coronial inquest. see article below. the premiers reluctance to an independent enquiry can be easily understood as not wanting to be seen as being unsupportive of the police process of police investigating themselves. this is the normal stand of all state premiers and territory chief ministers of whatever political hue. his public support for an early inquest, i believe, could quite easily be being used as a political ploy to get ms. dhus death in custody out of the justice and media limelight. barnetts view could merely be based on what is seen to be good for his state, his government and his police. justice is far from these three other considerations. there is one salient argument why the ms. dhu inquest should be held as soon as possible and that is that the circumstances surrounding the death have already been somewhat agreed to by both citizens and the authorities that there is a fault by subsequent wa governments in not adopting rec 121 that people not be incarcerated for non-payment of fines. for the wa police they need to adopt the above recommendation along with rec 87, arrest as matter of last resort, and other relevant health in custody recommendations to not make time in police cells a possible death sentence. for wa health, especially in custodial health situations, they too need to be referred by the coroner involved in this inquest to the recommendations from 122 to 167 inclusively as required. one issue that must be addressed by the coroner is the process when a person is seen by a nurse but reports sick the following day then that person must be seen by a qualified doctor rather than merely see a nurse again. it must also be pointed out that, firstly, there are a number of death in custody families awaiting for their loved ones case to reach the inquest stage and, secondly, an early inquest is no guarantee that justice will prevail. ms gail hickey, among other families, can sincerely attest to that. the only possible hope for justice for death in custody families is to demand a truly independent enquiry and not be forced to accept a corrupt police on police white-wash. ray jackson president indigenous social justice association 2 Oct 2014 - 8:28pm WA premier backs call to speed up inquest into Indigenous womans death in custody • West Australian premier Colin Barnett has backed a familys call for an immediate Coronial inquest into the death in custody of a young Indigenous woman. By SBS UPDATED 2 Oct 2014 - 8:28 PM Colin Barnett says he will contact the attorney-general to speed up police and health department enquiries into the death of 22-year-old Indigenous woman, Julieka Dhu. Ms Dhu died on August 4 after she spent three days in the Port Hedland watch house two months ago. It is understood she was in custody because she owed about $1000 in unpaid fines. Police said at the time that after complaining of feeling ill, she was taken to hospital three times and died on the final visit. Mr Barnett said it was a very tragic situation and he was keen to see a coronial report completed as soon as possible. The cause of death, I understand, was a heart attack. What led to that I think we need to know, he told ABC radio on Thursday. The premier said he would speak with Attorney-General Michael Mischin about the matter as soon as possible, but said he would not interfere with the coronial process, which should be independent. I want to see this resolved quickly. I think a lot of people are jumping to conclusions, which may not be true, he said. A police spokeswoman told AAP that inquiries were continuing and it was envisaged the completed file would be forwarded to the coroner by the end of the month. The Health Department was also looking at what happened when Ms Dhu was treated at the Hedland Health Campus, Mr Barnett said.
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 06:36:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015