2018-06-21
Lidia Thorpe - Speech in Parliament: This Sunday a community smoking ceremony will be held in Northcote for Raymond Noel Lindsay Thomas. He died in a police car chase on 25 June 2017. This is another tragic and unnecessary death of a man well before his time. My heart goes out to his family, community and friends.
His death is a terrible reminder of the fundamental problems in our system and society, where Aboriginal men die 10 years younger than non-Aboriginal men and are incarcerated at 12 times the rate of non-Aboriginal men here in Victoria. These figures sadden and infuriate me.
This should be front and centre of our minds as politicians, as people governing this state, instead of being wilfully ignored or exasperated by mandatory sentencing. This injustice cannot go on. We must make change.