Waleed Aly has again taken to his favourite medium – the smug rant – ignoring facts to push a popular opinion and rack up Facebook likes, assumedly in preparation to be told he has yet again “nailed it” by Vox or Pedestrian.tv
I am of course referring to Aly’s recent comments on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in custody, and the ridiculous remark that “we still have the death penalty. Clearly death is still a penalty we’re OK with in this country. As long as… the person dying is indigenous.”
Taking away the Gold-Logie winning showmanship, the idea that we are somehow condemning masses of indigenous detainees to death without a second thought is incorrect, as well as a bizarre and offensive attempt to add racial meaning to an issue where there is none. Australia obviously cares deeply about ATSI deaths in custody, or else people like Aly wouldn’t be hijacking the issue for popular gain. The constant media and public attention on the issue is testament that we not only care about ATSI deaths in custody, but care so much we choose to ignore the facts of the issue to suit his narrative.
The truth, born out by facts, is that indigenous people are statistically underrepresented in custodial deaths.
Indigenous people make up roughly 28 per cent of the custodial prison population. This is a massive overrepresentation of indigenous people in our prisons due to a myriad of reasons including intergenerational disadvantage – but that’s an issue for another day. What we know for sure is that of all deaths in custody from 1979 to 2011, the percentage of deaths in custody involving an ATSI person was 19 per cent.
By looking at these numbers we can see that indigenous Australians are 28 per cent of prisoners and 19 per cent of deaths in custody while non-ATSI prisoners make up 72 per cent of the population and 81 per cent of deaths in custody.
There is only one conclusion that can be made from these statistics, and that is that Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people are probably provided a better standard of care in jails and prisons than their non-Indigenous counterparts.
It is truly horrible that anyone taken into state care dies unnecessarily, but instead of honestly addressing that issue the identity politics obsessed left are pushing a racial narrative that can not be supported by the facts.
If anything, the constant media, political and public attention towards ATSI deaths in custody has allowed the potentially wrongful deaths of other prisoners to be swept completely under the rug.
Almost every custodial death that has hit a front page in recent years has been the result of having an Indigenous victim, and just a few minutes of leaked footage from Don Dale Youth Detention Centre managed to ignite a royal commission. So how can Aly say we as a nation are “okay” with indigenous deaths in custody when seemingly they are the only ones we do care about? Where is his voice advocating justice for the other 81 per cent of non-indigenous victims? Why do we feel the need to track Indigenous deaths separately as a “key performance indicator” as the AIC does?
Black or white, all lives should matter. We are all people, and equals.
If the activist class of Australia want to solve a real problem they need to be suggesting policies targeted at reducing deaths in custody generally, as well as reducing the incarceration rate for indigenous people and heading off the issue before it is too late.
What certainly does not help the issue is Waleed Aly and his ilk propagating a myth of racial injustice alongside constant attacks on the only people who really put their lives at risk every day to help Indigenous people – police and correctional services officers.
Kurt Tucker is studying politics and economics at the University of Queensland. He Tweets at @tucksyy.
