2016-07-29
The Greens candidate for Namatjira, Vincent Forrester, says the brutality seen on Four Corners on Monday night reflects the brutal attitudes held by the current NT government.
“The thugs employed in the prisons are just a reflection of the thugs in the CLP party. They should be prosecuted straight away,” Vincent Forrester says.
“Where is this behaviour coming from? It’s all through the system. This political culture of brutality has been created by a long history of top-down approaches to Indigenous policies that disempower, dispossess and imprison Aboriginal people. Labor’s policies have done the same,” says Mr. Forrester.
“A Royal Commission is not enough, and it has been compromised,” says the Greens candidate. “The outrage we feel is shared by people who are watching throughout Australia and the world.”
“We need immediate action,” says Mr. Forrester. “Sack this current government. Do not let Giles set the terms of reference. Get a Royal Commission with real independence, not with the NT Chief Justice and Adam Giles involved. Let Aboriginal Peak Organisations take the lead.”
“And say sorry to the families and the kids who have to live in fear of this kind of treatment.”
“To move forward on this issue, governments need to work with Aboriginal people. We need justice reinvestment, with proper funding going to all the programs that are helping keep Aboriginal people out of jail. The government has been stripping that funding. Organisations need it back, and more. There are better ways than locking people up.”
“Governments should be the protectors, not the destroyers, of our human rights,” Mr. Forrester says. “My mentors, like Charlie Perkins and Milton LIttle, taught me how to fight for our rights. We won the right to vote. And if the federal government won’t dismiss Adam Giles and his party, we can use that right to do it ourselves this election,” Mr. Forrester says.
“I have been championing our rights for over 40 years,” says Vincent Forrester. “A vote for me is a vote for someone who knows how to stand up to the thugs who want to take your rights away.”