AceNewsDesk – Kumarn Rubuntja was a “good and kind woman”, who was “really smart” and “liked to go out bush … taking all the children out to the swimming holes”, the Northern Territory coroner has heard.

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Nov.07: 2023: ABC News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name and image of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of their family………….It also contains details of domestic and family violence some readers may find distressing.

But the much-loved Western Arrernte woman and outspoken anti-violence campaigner, was murdered in 2021 and her death is now one of four domestic violence-related killings under Coroner Elisabeth Armitage’s microscope.

Kumanjayi Haywood, Ngeygo Ragurrk, Miss Yunupiŋu and Ms Rubuntja’s names and stories were largely unknown, until the series of coronial inquests began in Alice Springs in June.

Ms Haywood was killed by her partner Kumanjayi Dixon, when he poured fuel on the door of the bathroom she was hiding in and set it alight.

Ms Ragurrk died after a long, brutal, and very public violent attack was carried out by Garsek Nawirridj.

Miss Yunupiŋu was killed by Neil Marika, after he stabbed her in the heart, just days after being released from prison for another attack on her.

And Ms Rubuntja was murdered by Malcolm Abbott, who already had an earlier conviction for the manslaughter of another woman.

He repeatedly ran over Ms Rubuntja with his car just metres from the Alice Springs Hospital emergency room.

Each woman’s story was equally horrific.

But none garnered national attention for very long, if at all.

“ I see domestic related homicides on the eastern seaboard that are horrific and mainstream media gives them airtime,” Senior Constable Bradley Wallace, of NT Police, told the coroner on Tuesday.

“We see domestic homicides in the Northern Territory, and you just see a small article in the local newspaper or a small segment on the nightly news.”

He told the coroner he believed there was an “acceptance” of violence happening in the NT across society.

“I’ve worked on some jobs in the Northern Territory that I’ve expected there to be a very strong media and community response and there’s been nothing,” Senior Constable Wallace said.

“The silence sickens me.

“Our community has to take some responsibility and I think there’s acceptance that we’re in the situation we are, so there isn’t that radical response to another woman being killed.”

The Northern Territory has the highest rates of domestic, family, and sexual violence in the country and the rate of DFSV related murder is seven times the national average.

Throughout almost eight weeks of evidence, over the past six months, the NT coroner has heard the sheer volume of DFSV emergency calls is overwhelming for frontline services, including police.

“I think the police response to any crime within the community is to deal with the pointy end of the issue,” Senior Constable Wallace said.

“Domestic violence needs to be addressed from the ground up. It’s health, education, education, housing … it’s a bigger issue than a policing issue, it’s a social issue.”

Senior Constable Wallace, an Arrernte man who polices on his own Country in Alice Springs, told the coroner the “frequent” and “high level” of violence he saw in the community was like nothing he had seen before — even after policing in Nauru, the Solomon Islands, Melbourne and Sydney.

“When you police and you don’t know people, you’re responding to jobs and you’re building relationships that can be difficult,” he said.

“When you’re responding to an aggravated assault and it’s your sister, it’s got a different level of impact.

“When you’re arresting your own family members, it’s got a different level of impact on you.”

He told the coroner that despite the personal difficulties, it was important to have Aboriginal police officers on the ground.

“I don’t think there’s enough emphasis put on the cultural competency and education that Aboriginal people bring to roles in government and NGOs,” Senior Constable Wallace said.

“Going to university is hard work … but developing cultural competency in my community takes years (too).”

Cultural awareness key to addressing violence

The sentiment was reiterated by Ms Rubuntja’s niece, Cecily Arabie, who told the coroner that local solutions were central to solving the domestic violence crisis gripping the NT.

“Aboriginal women may not have the formal qualifications, but are qualified in their own right,” Ms Arabie said.

Her aunty, Ms Rubuntja, was her “inspiration” and Ms Arabie became a voice for victim-survivors after her death.

She told the coroner there were a series of changes she wanted to see to tackle DFSV, including better cultural training, particularly for police, more officers in remote communities, a 24-hour police front counter in Alice Springs and on-country support for men.

“ When Aboriginal men come out of prison … there’s no support and no programs in their [remote] communities,” Ms Arabie said.

She suggested support programs and short-term accommodation for those released from prison, could help men reintegrate into their communities and teach them respect for women, before they returned home.

Another close relative of Ms Rubuntja, who cannot be identified, agreed, telling the coroner she wanted “more social workers” for men upon their release, “so they stop killing their wives and families”.

“I miss [Ms Rubuntja]. I wish she was still here with me … because right now we are still thinking of her,” the loved one said.

All DV deaths ‘an indictment’ on society

Dr Luke Butcher, an acting regional executive director at NT Health, outlined a string of changes the department planned to make, or had already implemented, to address DFSV.

He told the court second-hand mobile phones and clothes would be given to victim survivors, while a dedicated “family centred” and “culturally safe” space in the emergency ward was also being looked at.

The coroner heard a “women’s only” waiting area was also being considered at hospitals.

“If we have a victim of violence in a busy waiting area, there may be people intoxicated, deregulated … it can be very re-traumatising for victim-survivors,” Dr Butcher said.

But Dr Butcher, like many witnesses before him, told the coroner the department faced funding constraints when it came to properly responding to the level of demand it saw.

He said there were not enough social workers in Territory hospitals, nor enough community-based mental health support staff.

While the coroner heard unfilled nursing positions and other jobs had been “re-purposed” to redirect clinical staff into prisons.

“The death of any woman from domestic violence is an indictment on us as a community … it is entirely, entirely unacceptable,” Dr Butcher said.

The inquest continues……….

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