The Wire

Brisbane-based Indigenous activist Sam Watson says he believes police have wasted millions of dollars in commonwealth funding – instead of implementing recommendations from the 1991 Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Report. Mr Watson has written to Queensland Premier Peter Beattie asking for a full accounting of the money, which was meant to protect Indigenous people in police custody. Richard Frankland, filmaker and founder of Your Voice political party, was involved in the 1991 Royal Commission. While Qld Police are selling wrist bands to help raise funds to assist Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley’s legal costs. He was charged this week with manslaughter over the death in custody of an Aboriginal man in 2004.