2004 Palm Island death in custody

The 2004 Palm Island death in custody incident relates to the death of an Aboriginal resident of Palm Island, Cameron Doomadgee (also known as "Mulrunji") on Friday, 19 November 2004 in a police cell.[1] The death of Mulrunji led to civic disturbances on the island and a legal, political and media sensation that continued for fourteen years.

The Attorney-General of Queensland, Kerry Shine, indicted an Australian police officer for a criminal trial for the first time since the public prosecutor's office was established. The officer, Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, who was charged for a death in custody, was acquitted by the jury in June 2007. Hurley medically retired from the Gold Coast station of the Queensland Police in 2017[2] following a string of charges while serving as a police officer including assault and dangerous driving.[3][4][2]

Police raids and behaviour following the community riot were found to have breached the Racial Discrimination Act 1975,[5] with a record class action settlement of A$30 million awarded to victims in May 2018.[6][7]

Two legal questions arose from the death; firstly, whether the taking into custody of Mulrunji was lawful, and secondly, whether the injuries that led to his death were illegally caused by the arresting officer.

Politically, this event raised questions relating to the federal government's 1987–1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and whether its recommendations to prevent deaths in custody had been implemented by the government.

  1. ^ Page, A., & Petray, T. (2012). The Dualism of Agency and the Australian Settler-State in the Twenty First Century: The Palm Island Riot of 2004 and the Aftermath. Proceedings of The Australian Sociological Association Conference, November, 2012.
  2. ^ a b Elder, Jessica (21 August 2016). "Suspended Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley faces criminal charges". Gold Coast Bulletin. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  3. ^ Stolz, Greg (17 October 2017). "Controversial ex-cop Chris Hurley appeals conviction over wild Gold Coast police chase". The Brisbane Times. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  4. ^ Branco, Jorge (11 December 2017). "Former cop Chris Hurley's penalty for assaulting a motorist reduced". The Courier Mail. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  5. ^ "Queensland police breached discrimination act on Palm Island, court finds". Brisbane Times. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  6. ^ Lily, Nothling (2 May 2018). "Palm Island riots class action payout 'slap in face' to police, union says". The Courier Mail. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  7. ^ Chen, David (1 May 2018). "'It's about healing': Palm Islanders to share $30m class action payment". ABC News. Retrieved 5 March 2020.