“Tragically, in just the last two months, two more Aboriginal men from Canberra have died in custody, on both occasions while incarcerated in the AMC. This is simply scandalous and cannot be tolerated,” writes indigenous advocate JULIE TONGS.

I have recently been deeply engaged in preparing a response to a request from the NSW Coroners Office for a detailed report on Winnunga’s interactions with and care of Tian Jarra Dennis (TJ).

The coroner has sought advice on our observations of the care and treatment that TJ received while incarcerated in the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) and more generally as a client of Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services. 

Many will recall TJ, a young indigenous man, was the subject of the vile and racist “hangman” drawing that prison officers adorned their staff room within the AMC in 2018. It is understood that the drawing of TJ hanging from a noose was a source of great amusement to AMC staff.

In preparing the report requested of me by the coroner, I was struck by the fact that it appears the decision by the ACT government, against the advice of Winnunga Nimmityjah, to transfer TJ to a prison in NSW and to wash their hands of him was made within a week or two of TJ launching legal action against the AMC for its treatment of him. 

Winnunga Nimmityjah had in fact insisted that TJ should have been cared for at Dulwah Mental Health Unit and further that if the ACT government was determined to transfer him to NSW that it was imperative that he be placed in a forensic mental health facility. 

Sadly, and ironically, TJ died, alone and sad, in a jail cell in the Silverwater Correctional Complex in NSW in August 2023, a short while before the ACT Supreme Court found in his favour in a legal action that Ken Cush and Associates had launched on his behalf. 

Tragically, in just the last two months, two more Aboriginal men from Canberra have died in custody, on both occasions while incarcerated in the AMC. This is simply scandalous and cannot be tolerated.

In addition to this, it is understood that the ACT Supreme Court will shortly hand down its finding in the case brought by a vulnerable Aboriginal woman who, while detained in the AMC, was subjected to a horrifying strip search observed by male detainees and prison officers. As an aside it is also notable, but unsurprising, that the ACT has both the highest Aboriginal incarceration and recidivism rates in Australia.

My purpose in highlighting these few examples of the treatment of Aboriginal detainees in the AMC, spread as they are over several years, is to reinforce what I believe to be incontrovertible, namely the urgent need for a root-and-branch review of all aspects of the operation and management of the AMC and the ACT corrections system more generally.

Considering the seriousness and regularity of the failings of the AMC and ACT Corrections, I believe it is vital that the review I am seeking take the form of a Royal Commission. In this regard it is relevant, and notable, that the immediate response to the release in 2017 of video evidence of the treatment of Aboriginal detainees in the Don Dale youth detention facility in the NT was the establishment of a Royal Commission.

It is notable and relevant that my advocacy for a Royal Commission-style inquiry into the AMC and Corrections more generally has the full support of a majority of the local Aboriginal community.

On a side issue I have previously expressed my deep concern at the exceedingly long delays experienced in the ACT Coroners Court and the ACT Supreme Court. 

It is now not uncommon for judgments or findings in both these courts to take in the order of two years or more to be delivered. The implications, especially for the families and loved ones of the subject of a coronial inquest or a matter being heard in the Supreme Court, of delays of this order, are in some instances deeply distressing.

I was, along I am sure with a majority of Canberrans, deeply concerned by the recent decision of the Interchange Health Co-op, a Tuggeranong based bulk-billing general practice service with around 5000 clients, to close.

While I was particularly pleased to see that the Commonwealth has since then announced a funding boost of $3.8 million to ensure that the Interchange Health Co-op can continue to function, it does beg the question of how best to ensure that all Canberra-based health services, including Winnunga Nimityjah, which has more than 6000 clients, are similarly and equitably supported.

Julie Tongs, CEO of the Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services.