Sky News Darwin Bureau Chief Matt Cunningham says the total cost of the Inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker is in excess of $7.4 million, revealing the cost to the Department of Attorney-General and Justice was over $1.9 million and almost $5.5 million for NT Police alone

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We'll head across right now. Matt Cunningham from Sky News
joining us live on the line. Good morning to you, Matt.
Matt with the Coronial inquest. Let's talk about the cost
of the Coronial inquest. Last week we were told it
was we thought it was about seven point four million
dollars for this inquest to be able to happen. Mate,

(00:22):
you've got the receipts. How much did it cost and
what's the go who had to pay?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, you were right on the money as always wife,
So the cost for two government departments, So the cost
is probably actually quite a bit more than seven point
four million dollars. But we do have the cost for
two government departments, that's the Department of Attorney General Injustice
and the Northern Territory Police This has been revealed in
answers to questions in budget estimates. So the cost for

(00:50):
the Department of Attorney General Injustice was just over one
point nine million dollars for this Coronial inquest, and the
cost for the Northern Territory Police Force, which of course
was represented throughout this in quest, was almost five point
five million dollars. So that comes to a total of

(01:12):
just over seven point four million dollars. But then you
have to remember that the Northern Territory Health Department was
also represented pretty much throughout this inquest as well, So
these documents don't include the cost for the Northern Territory
Health Department, nor does it include the cost for other
government funded organizations like NAGER that were also represented at

(01:34):
the inquest, but it does reveal that figure of just
over seven point four million dollars for the Department of
Attorney General and Justice and the Northern Territory Police Force.
To put that in a bit of context, these documents
also show the cost of the coronial inquiry that was
conducted into the deaths of the four Aboriginal women who

(01:56):
were killed in domestic violence incidents. The cost for the
Coroner's Office the Department of Attorney General and Justice for
that inquiry was just under five hundred thousand dollars, which is,
for that department about a quarter of the cost of
the coinjoy Walker inquiry. It also reveals the average cost

(02:18):
in the past financial year of each inquest, so of
two hundred and eighty three coronial inquiries. Obviously, they don't
all proceed to public hearings and some are far more
complicated than others, but the average costs for each of
those inquiries was just six one hundred and twenty dollars.
So you can see that the Walker Inquiry and subsequent

(02:42):
findings has has come a pretty extraordinary cost compared to
the average inquests. It's a huge cost and it was,
you know, it was an inquiry like it was a
coronial inquiry like no other I've seen in my time
in the Northern Territory. You know, I've seen plenty of

(03:03):
coronial inquiries that you know, had hearings that ran for
two or three days, or perhaps a week or two.
This coronial inquiry, if you count the days that the
Supreme Court sat here legal challenges, it actually sat for
seventy one day. It was an inquiry that when it
started was supposed to run for three months and in

(03:25):
the end it ran for almost three years. So it
has been a long drawn out affair. It has cost
a lot of money. And I think that the other
extraordinary thing is that at the end of this there's
no guarantee that the government's going to implement any of
the thirty three recommendations that were handed down by the coroner.
Lepanokiiro was asked about this on Monday, and she said

(03:45):
that it had been an affair that had been long
and drawn out, had run for longer than most people
would have liked. And she made the point that much
has changed in the six years since the police shooting
of Kumenjoi Walker at Yindamu in November two and nineteen,
almost six years ago now, and she says that the

(04:05):
government will take a look at them. But you know,
we spent a lot of money on this inquiry. Would
be an extraordinary thing to spend that much money and
then have a government not implement any of the any
of the recommendations that come from that inquiry.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Matt, I know your press for time. I know that
you also have your commitments with Sky this morning, so
please feel free to cut me off whenever it's required.
And look, I just I just sort of thinking out loud.
I think to myself, you know, the deaths of for
Aboriginal women to domestic violence is something that absolutely, you know,
should be looked into and should have the attention that

(04:42):
it deserves. Any death you know in the Northern Territory
that the coroner is looking at to their loved ones
and the people that it impacts is incredibly important, and
the broader, you know, depending on the circumstances surrounding. Obviously,
the broader impact to the community is something that is
incredibly important as well. But I know so many people

(05:02):
listening this morning will be going scratching their heads saying,
you know, what made this inquest more important than another,
that it should cost and take that period of time comparatively,
you know, to other debts.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Absolutely, it's a good point, and I mean to put
that into some context, and that is not to say
that an incident as serious as this should not be
properly inquired into it. I think there have been two
fatal police shootings in the Northern Territory in the last
twenty five years or so. If you look at it

(05:39):
to make a comparison, I think they've been five, potentially
six deaths of people who have suicided in prison over
a similar period, and yet we haven't seen anywhere near
the resource put into inquiries into those deaths. So if

(06:01):
the purpose of a coronial inquiry is to prevent a
similar death from happening, and you could make the same
point in relation to domestic violence, which you touched on before,
then you could quite easily make the argument that perhaps
more resourcing should be put into those deaths rather than

(06:22):
a police shooting, of which we've had two in the
last twenty five years. Now. You know, there are and
I stress the points. You know, there were serious issues
with what happened on the night of November nine, twenty nineteen,
and serious issues that needed to be investigated. And there
were serious elements of racism within the Northern Territory Police
Force that were uncovered during this inquiry. Ironically, perhaps the

(06:45):
most serious of them, revealed by Constable Zacholf himself. But
you know, I think people will rightly be asking whether
seven point four million dollars plus is a good use
of taxpayers money and whether perhaps an inquiry like this
could have been done in a more efficient way.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah, I think that it is certainly something that we'll
discuss tomorrow on the week. That was as well, Matt Cunningham,
good to speak with you this morning. Thanks so much
for having a chat with us.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
No worries, Thanks Kate, thank you