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Real change and deep listening: In honour of Cassius Turvey

17th Nov 2022

I would like to acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional owners of the land upon which we gather on this deeply sad occasion. I pay my respect for their culture and identity which has been bound up with the land, waterways and sky for generations. I would also like to pay my respects to Elders, past and present.

I can’t tell you how honoured I am to be here with my very good friend and proud Palawa woman Rebecca Digney. 

Today we gather to mourn the loss of Cassius Turvey. He was just a child with his whole life ahead of him and his senseless death has reverberated with people all around the country.

We stand together here now to show support to the family of Cassius and to collectively mourn his loss.

But we are also here to face the reality of what his death means for all of us. While our hearts go out to his family and especially to his mum, what happened to Cassius has shown us all the cruel reality that racism remains endemic in this country.

This terrible tragedy has shown us that we need urgent change.

We need to lobby for law reform to address discrimination and systemic injustice impacting First Nations peoples everywhere.

Our legal system needs to change.

More work is needed to stop the racist and discriminatory practices that are still entrenched in our police and criminal justice systems.

The statistics are stark.

While Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make up approximately 3% of the general population, they make up almost 30% of the adult prisoner population in Australia.[i]

We need to stop First Nations peoples ending up in custody.

We need to stop First Nations peoples from dying in custody at a disproportionate rate.

I became a lawyer later in life and I remember feeling hopeful that through understanding why there is injustice, I could understand how to address injustice. That is why I became part of the Australian Lawyers Alliance. We lobby hard to create a more just and equitable society. We have long called for justice reinvestment strategies to address the high rate of incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

We need government funding committed to

• justice reinvestment;
• early intervention strategies; and
• community-led culturally appropriate services to divert Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples away from the justice system.

Treaties with First Nations peoples have the potential to remove the racism that remains in laws and social policies across Australia.

But, for real change, we need to truly listen.

Here in Lutrawita/Tasmania we need to face the truth about our history:

• We need to look at our history without fear so that we can understand.
• We need to listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples about the issues affecting their communities.
• We need to raise the age of criminal responsibility to keep Tasmanian Aboriginal children out of detention centres and with their families and communities where they belong.
• We need proper police complaints processes.
• We need true accountability when complaints are made.
• We need to stamp out discriminatory police practices.

We need to start actioning our obligations. In Horvath v Australia,[ii] the UN Human Rights Committee held that, as signatories to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Australia is under an obligation to ensure that perpetrators of human rights violations, and specifically those perpetrated by police authorities, are adequately held to account through an independent, effective and impartial investigation into their conduct. The obligation extends to states and territories.[iii]

The death of Cassius Turvey is an unthinkable tragedy. It is saddening to think that it has taken a devastating event like the loss of a child in a senseless attack to start a real conversation in the Australian community.  We need our governments to listen to First Nations people and take a proactive stance in stamping out racist and discriminatory practices. An independent police conduct investigatory body is a first step and there are already international precedents we can draw from.

It is a difficult conversation but we need communities across the country to keep talking and truly listening to our First Nations peoples until racism in this country is a thing of the past.

The ALA thanks Rowena MacDonald for this contribution

Rowena MacDonald graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) in 2014 and was admitted to practice in 2015, having previously worked as a union official with various trade unions. Before commencing with Angela Sdrinis Legal she worked as a solicitor in civil litigation and dispute resolution with a particular focus on workers compensation, employment and anti-discrimination law, and as an industrial officer with the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation. Rowena is passionate about social justice and animal welfare and volunteers as a member of the board of animal rescue organisation Just Cats Tasmania. She is also the mother of two adult children who are First Nations people from the Northern Territory. 

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors’ and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).

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Tags: Tasmania Rowena MacDonald Cassius Turvey Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples First Nations