A senior Larrakia traditional owner has resigned from an official government-appointed role in protest against the Northern Territory’s laws targeting youth crime.
Last month, the NT government passed legislation reducing the age of criminal responsibility, meaning children as young as 10 years old can once again face jail time in the territory.
For weeks, Larrakia man Richard Fejo had been reckoning with concerns from human rights and health experts that more First Nations children would end up behind bars under the change.
On Monday, after four years as chair of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation, Dr Fejo handed in his resignation.
“I’m sad to leave that position, but I will not represent — and I cannot represent — a government that is doing this to my people,” he said.
“This is outrageous. We are the most imprisoned people.”
Mr Fejo is a Larrakia traditional owner. (ABC News: Jayden O’Neill)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up about 85 per cent of the NT’s prison population, despite accounting for just 26 per cent of the general population.
In recent weeks, the passing of anti-crime laws has coincided with an explosion of inmates inside territory prisons, with the NT government enacting “emergency measures” to free up more prison beds.
Dr Fejo’s statement also comes amid renewed attention on racism toward Indigenous Territorians, after independent MP for Mulka Yingiya Guyula detailed a string of interactions where he felt he was treated differently because of his race.
Yingiya Guyula says racism against First Nations people is worsening in Darwin. (ABC News: Olivana Lathouris)
Dr Fejo encouraged First Nations parents to “learn your rights” and called on other Larrakia leaders to “stand up” and come together in opposition to the NT government’s laws.
“This is about my people and my principles,” he said.
“And my principles say no child — First Nations or otherwise — deserves to be arrested and locked up at 10 years old.
“They don’t have the mental capacity to understand their wrongdoing.”
In a statement, Minister for Tourism and Hospitality Marie-Clare Boothby said the NT government’s anti-crime laws “apply equally to everyone”.
“It’s what Territorians voted for in August,” she said in a statement.
“If people aren’t doing the wrong thing, they have nothing to worry about.”
Ms Boothby also said: “Racism has no place in our society”.
