NT police commissioner’s apology means nothing without sacking racist officers, top lawyer says

Former bar association president tells Garma panel there is no due process' for Aboriginal people in NT courts, and derides Albanese's pledge for more engagement

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A senior Darwin-based criminal barrister says the Northern Territory's court system has no due process for Indigenous people and instead of apologising to them for 154 years of racist treatment, its police commissioner should sack the racist officers in his force.

John Lawrence SC, a former president of the NT bar association, dismissed police commissioner Michael Murphy's public apology to Indigenous territorians delivered on Saturday at the annual Garma festival, saying it would mean nothing while officers who had engaged in racist behaviour remained on the force.

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