Joint Standing Committee on the Corruption and Crime Commission — Eighth Report —
“The More Things Change...: Matters arising from the Corruption and Crime Commission’s Report on Operation Aviemore: Major Crime Squad Investigation into the Unlawful Killing of Mr Joshua Warneke” —
Motion
Resumed from 28 November 2018 on the following motion moved by Hon Jim Chown — That the reported be noted.
Hon ALISON XAMON: I rise to make some comments about this report, because since the house last considered this report, we have received the minister’s response to its findings. To refresh members’ memories, this report from the Joint Standing Committee on the Corruption and Crime Commission was a response to matters arising from the Corruption and Crime Commission’s report on Operation Aviemore, which was the major crime squad investigation into the unlawful killing of Mr Joshua Warneke. The Joshua Warneke matter is a heartbreaking blight on the law and order history of this state. A young man was murdered in Broome and his killer has still to be found. Mr Gene Gibson, an Aboriginal man who has cognitive impairment, speaks very little English and has serious and genuine cultural issues with his interaction with the police, was wrongfully charged and found guilty, and has been subsequently exonerated. This is a tragedy on two fronts. Firstly, it is a tragedy for Mr Gene Gibson himself, who endured years of prison, and, secondly, it is a genuine tragedy for the family of Joshua Warneke, especially his mother, who has never stopped trying to find the person responsible for the murder of her precious son.
This investigation by the Corruption and Crime Commission revealed a number of areas in the way that police operate, particularly in remote regions dealing with Aboriginal communities, that are in desperate need of reform. The cognitive impairment of Mr Gibson is not a key component of the report of the joint standing committee. It is mentioned, but most of the focus of the recommendations has been on the need for culturally appropriate responses, and the need to ensure that issues of language are appropriately dealt with. Nevertheless, it is significant to raise this. I note that the Premier’s Statement yesterday indicated that, sometime this year, we will finally see the long-awaited new criminal law, mentally impaired accused legislation, which I hope will be a significant reform. It is desperately overdue. I remind members that it was recommended in 2003 that that legislation be reviewed, and that has not happened. I wonder whether cases like that of Mr Gibson would be mitigated by that improved legislation. I look forward to seeing that bill. I spoke about it in my inaugural speech when I was re-elected to this place, when I said that it was one of the key issues that I am concerned about. Anyone who cares about human rights and justice issues will be very concerned to make sure that we get that legislation as soon as possible, and that we get it right when it is introduced.
Coming back to the findings and recommendations of this report, recommendation 1 was that the Western Australia Police Force should routinely work with local groups and Aboriginal elders when inducting regionally and remotely stationed officers. That recommendation was made because one of the things that came out of this report was that a number of cultural characteristics of the Aboriginal community were not being given due regard in the ordinary processes of police investigations. For example, it is commonly understood that Aboriginal people from remote regions, who have English as a second or, in this case, a third language, will commonly simply agree. A direct question such as, “Did you murder Mr Warneke?” will get the answer “Yes”, because there is a cultural tendency to simply defer to authority figures. This investigative technique is obviously flawed, and this sort of thing needs to be urgently addressed. It was found that far too often we were sending our police officers into regions where effectively they were dealing with entirely foreign cultures in some ways—foreign to white ways, that is, but of course not foreign to these lands—and simply were not getting the opportunity to receive appropriate training or support to navigate their way through their investigations to achieve the outcome they needed.
The reply from Hon Michelle Roberts, the Minister for Police, outlines, via a breakdown of districts, some of the initiatives that have been commenced to try to deal with these issues. She has broken it down to the Kimberley, the Pilbara, goldfields–Esperance, midwest–Gascoyne, the wheatbelt, the great southern and the south west. I am aware, however, that we will not have much time to go into this in detail today, so I look forward to being able to go into this at a bit more length in a future contribution.
The DEPUTY CHAIR (Hon Adele Farina): Pursuant to temporary order 4, debate on this report will now fall to the bottom of the notice paper. Members will have another opportunity to debate this matter.
Consideration of report postponed, pursuant to standing orders.