The latest national news update from the National Indigenous Radio Service.
Fury at Turnbull’s Royal Commission handling
Aboriginal groups in the Northern Territory have slammed the appointment of a former senior Northern Territory legal figure to head the Royal Commission into the abuse of Aboriginal children in Northern Territory prisons, and lashed out at a failure by government to consult any Aboriginal organisations, before announcing the terms of reference for the inquiry.
Late yesterday Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the Royal Commission would be headed by Brian Martin, a retired former Chief Justice of the NT Supreme Court.
But three of the Northern Territory’s most powerful Aboriginal organisations – the Northern and Central Land Councils and the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT – delivered a swift rebuke overnight, describing their bitter disappointment at the federal government’s handling of the Royal Commission, and calling it “compromised from the start”.
The groups say Aboriginal people should have been involved in the creation of terms of reference for the Commission, and that Mr Martin cannot be considered independent, given his close links to the Territory. He was appointed to a high level government inquiry last year, by the former Minister for Corrections, John Elferink.
Vic prisoner dies after attacking guards
Police are investigating the death of a prisoner at a Victorian medium security jail.
Underworld figure Hizir Ferman, 35, collapsed after being forcibly removed from his room in Loddon Prison on Thursday, Corrections Victoria said.
Earlier he had attacked two guards, with the Middleton Annex put in lockdown. Ferman has been linked with numerous Melbourne gangland figures.
Police are still investigating the cause of death and will prepare a report for the coroner.
The two guards who were attacked were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Vic Pokemon Go player crashes into school
A man made an unplanned Pokestop when his car crashed into a Melbourne school overnight.
The man was trying to capture a creature from the Pokemon Go mobile phone app when he lost control while negotiating a roundabout. The car smashed through a fence and into a school portable building in Berwick at 6.50pm on Thursday.
No one was injured in the crash. The 19-year-old is likely to be charged in relation to careless driving, police say.
Stefanovic apologises for ‘tranny’ jokes
Channel 9’s Today Show host Karl Stafanovic has this morning described himself as an “ignorant fool” and issued an apology to the LBGTQI community for a string of ‘transvestite’ jokes he delivered on air yesterday.
Stefanovic’s comments were in reference to news that a camera crew in Rio De Janeiro for the Olympics reported it had been attacked by a “transvestite” shortly after touching down in the country.
Charges yet to be laid over Qld stabbing
Police are yet to charge a man over Tuesday night’s stabbing rampage in Townsville which left an elderly woman dead and two other injured.
A 32-year-old man was arrested at the scene and remains in hospital under police custody. Police had expected to charge him over the rampage on Thursday but no charges had been laid as of Friday morning.
A 26-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man were stabbed during Tuesday night’s rampage and the body of an 81-year-old woman was found at a nearby house the following morning.
SA to start consultation on dump proposal
A wide ranging community consultation program over a proposal to build a high level nuclear waste dump in South Australia is set to begin.
Premier Jay Weatherill will open the first information session in Adelaide’s Rundle Mall later today. It will continue over the weekend before moving to regional centres next week.
The program includes scale models and interactive displays and follows the state’s Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle and the first of two citizen juries which examined the commission’s recommendations.
The state government has pledged to make a decision on the question of establishing a dump by the end of the year.
