By Margaret Maccoll
A group of surfers paddled out to First Point at Main Beach Sunday morning forming a circle in a symbolic gesture of support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Organised by Sonja Wrethman, the Women who Surf event attracted about 30 people who joined in the Paddle out for Peace.
Sonja said the event was held to honour, remember and stand with George Floyd, the black American who died at the hands of a white policeman, and all the lives that have been affected by systemic racism.
“It’s just a nod to Indigenous peoples,” she said. “We’re just trying to show some love and support.”
The event was held as Black Lives Matter protests, sparked by the death of George Floyd and ongoing Indigenous deaths in custody, were staged across the country.
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was established to inquire why so many Aboriginal people die in custody and make recommendations as to how to prevent such deaths in the future. It examined the 99 Aboriginal deaths in the custody of prison, police or juvenile detention centres that occurred between 1980 and 1989.
The 1991 report from the Royal Commission made 339 recommendations ranging from providing safe, humane conditions in detention to supporting self-determination for Indigenous people. It concluded that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody did not die at a greater rate than non-Indigenous people but there were a higher number of deaths due to their over-representation in the justice system.
One of the outcomes of the Royal Commission was the establishment of a National Deaths in Custody Monitoring and Research Program by the Australian Institute of Criminology.
The Australian Institute of Criminology report, Deaths in custody in Australia 2017-18, found there were 72 deaths in prison custody of which 16 were Indigenous and 66 non-indigenous. Indigenous deaths accounted for 22 per cent of the deaths. Comparatively Indigenous prisoners made up 28 per cent. In 2017-18 there were 21 deaths in police custody, three of those were Indigenous deaths.
