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Mandatory phone line connects Indigenous people in custody with lawyers
It is now a mandatory requirement for police to call Custody Notification Service when arresting and detaining an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person.
Naomi Neilson
Source: facebook.com/pg/WA.Police/photos
The law came into effect in Western Australia after a key recommendation following a coronial inquest into the death of Ms Dhu at the South Hedland Police Station in 2014. The line will be 24 hours and provide welfare and legal advice.
The CNS central number will divert to the phone of a rostered Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia solicitor who will then undertake a welfare check and provide legal advice. The service will operate state-wide and was implemented after a trial phrase in July.
Attorney-General John Quigley said it was important the CNS number is utilised after the death of Ms Dhu while in police custody at a Western Australia station.
“Ms Dhu should never have been in custody and she should never had died in custody. Had there been a custody notification service in place, I believe that her tragic death in custody would have been avoided,” Mr Quigley said.
Ms Roberts added it was a “tragedy” it has taken so long for Western Australia to implement the call requirement, “but I am proud the McGowan government has acted, when the former Liberal National government would not”.
It is part of a number of reforms planned under the McGowan government to reduce the unnecessary incarceration of Indigenous people, Aboriginal affairs minister Ben Wyatt said. He added calls for it go back to the royal commission.
“I commend the Aboriginal Legal Service for its commitment to delivering this service,” he said.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
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