The Number Of Missing & Murdered First Nations Women
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If you want to see the cultural and institutional racism at work in Australia check out the number of missing and murdered First Nations women on our state record books. Literally hundreds of Indigenous women whose cases have barely been investigated let alone solved by our police forces around the nation. Dark skinned girls in regional areas hardly rate a mention by our media when they mysteriously go missing. They are not blue eyed and blonde haired. They are not from Caucasian homes. These daughters of desperate mothers are consigned to the rubbish bins of history by police and their masters who really don’t care much.
“We know that since 2000, at least 315 First Nations women have gone missing or been murdered or killed in suspicious circumstances. And we also know that First Nations women are being murdered at up to 12 times the national average.”
Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women In Australia
According to recent reports, over three hundred First Nations women are missing or murdered since 2000 in Australia. There is the case of Richard Dorrough who confessed in writing to murdering three people before taking his own life. The fact that Dorrough was interviewed by WA police about the disappearance of Sara-Lee Davey in Broome gives rise to suspicions about his involvement in her demise. The fact that Dorrough was later charged and tried for the murder of Kate Campbell in Sydney but inexplicably got off seems further likelihood that he was actually guilty. A 60 Minutes investigation linked Richard Dorrough with the Paula Brown murder for which he was never charged. All of these cases share shoddy police work, First Nations female victims, and an obvious lack of application on behalf of the justice system and the media’s interest. In the instance of Dorrough’s ability to escape conviction for murdering Kate Campbell when there was DNA evidence putting him at the scene of the crime and the judge who tried the case stating he would have convicted him if it wasn’t a jury trial – it beggars belief. You cannot ignore cultural racism as the overarching reason why he, a white man, walked out of the courtroom a free man. In the end, he had to kill himself because white justice could not convict a triple murderer of Indigenous women in Australia.
Our second rate police could not bring this guy to justice despite copious amounts of evidence linking him to at least 3 murders.
Regional Police Failing First Nations Families
Regional police throughout Australia are historically pretty poor when it comes to solving serious crimes. Yes, we can point to chronic underfunding by states in this regard. However, police forces are cultural backwaters when it comes to respecting the rights of First Nations people. The families and mothers especially who have been interviewed in regard to how police treated them share stories of how they and their concerns were dismissed again and again. Indigenous Australians just don’t rate in the eyes of the police. Likewise the media in this country fails to champion the rights of First Nations Australians.
Racism is rife right around regional Australia. Very few people are fighting in the corner of Indigenous Aussies.
315 Indigenous women are missing or murdered since 2000 in Australia. There are good coppers around the place, but not enough of them. Cultures within police forces are changing but it is happening too slowly, especially in regional areas. Australia as a whole has been too slack around many things that really matter.
Police procedural protocols are absolutely essential when dealing with serious crime. Historically, we have been piss poor about this stuff, which is why there are so many unsolved murders and missing people.
A lot of Australians are patting themselves on the back for voting down the Indigenous Voice referendum – I don’t know why. Things are pretty bad for many First Nations women in outback Australia. The Murdoch press led the way in polarising Australians, as Fox News does in America – galvanising hate and stirring up trouble to make money. The Voice tried to achieve something new but white Australia bought up fear and negativity rather than hope. Downward envy danced its way across the red continent. If you voted No, what answers do you have, what solution are you proffering? Think about it.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.
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