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Leanne Liddle knows what it takes to cut it as a police officer but says tackling racism within the ranks has been her toughest assignment yet. WARNING: This story contains racist and offensive language. "I was brought up tough, I've been a former police officer, and I know how the system works," Ms Liddle said. The former South Australian police officer and head of the Northern Territory's Aboriginal Justice Unit has spent more than a year heading a dedicated command investigating claims of racism in the force. "We have a problem within the Northern Territory police force, racism exists in our police force, and we need to fix it," Ms Liddle said. She was appointed to the role after racism involving police officers was revealed in a high-profile coronial inquest into the police shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu in 2019. In delivering her findings in July, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage found "grotesque" examples of racism within the force's most elite unit were ignored by then-commissioner Michael Murphy, and five senior officers insisted a so-called "Coon of the Year" award had no racist connotations. This week, NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole announced the force's new Anti-Racism Action Plan, a document underpinned by Ms Liddle's work. Speaking to Stateline NT, Leanne Liddle — an Arrernte woman who was born and raised in Alice Springs — said change wouldn't "happen overnight" and called for non-Aboriginal people to drive the reform. "This isn't an Aboriginal issue, this is actually everybody's issue," she said. "The heavy lifting is going to have to come from the non-Aboriginal people both inside and outside of the police force because that's where a lot of the power and the privilege sits and where the decisions are made." What is in the strategy? The first phase of the action plan, to be delivered by 2027, includes providing anti-racism training for all police employees and reviewing policies and procedures to ensure Aboriginal Territorians are not disadvantaged in the workplace. Ms Liddle said unlike overt racism, which is easier to identify, systemic racism is harder to recognise because it embedded in workplace systems and practices. She cited the absence of Aboriginal interpreters in police call centres before she started the job as one example of systemic racism. She also said she has reviewed "lots of cases of racial profiling" involving Aboriginal people from serving officers. "People might align certain characteristics and therefore have biases in front of them that, you know, 'Aboriginal people are heavy drinkers, they don't look after their kids'. "The stereotypes are layered and it's something I've seen whilst I've been working with police." Complaints of racism in the ranks: 'I'm a busy woman' Ms Liddle could not say how many officers were under investigation for alleged racism on the job, hinting to her workload to tell a bigger picture. "It keeps me busy, how's that?" she said. "I wouldn't be able to give you the exact figure, but I can say that I am a very busy woman in a very busy team." Ms Liddle acknowledged the support she has had from the NT police executive, where she also sits, to do the work but said there had been pushback from officers under investigation for racism against Aboriginal Territorians. Up against a police force dogged by low morale and challenges with staff retention, Ms Liddle said it was important to acknowledge the force is overwhelmingly made up of police officers acting professionally and doing the right thing. "At the moment I am seeing more good police officers than bad police officers and I think I want those bad racist police officers to be the minority," she said. She's also seen attitudes change. "I've had police officers who have been gifted or taken artefacts from communities — that might have been 10-15 years ago — return those items to me because they know it wasn't theirs to take." Denial of systemic racism from the top Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro — who is also the NT police minister — has publicly stated that systemic racism in the ranks is not a problem. At a press conference last month, the Ms Finocchiaro told reporters she didn't accept "the premise" of a question about systemic racism in the force. But Ms Liddle said the chief minister's position does not put the strategy at risk. She said her team had updated Ms Finocchiaro on the work underway to combat racism. "This [strategy] isn't influenced by politics, this is an agency document that will go over terms of government no matter who is in power — it's a whole-of-organisation reform document," Ms Liddle said. Ms Liddle wants the Northern Territory community — where 30 per cent of the population is made up of Aboriginal people — to know that racism won't be tolerated. "It's degrading, it's demoralising and shouldn't be happening in 2025," she said. "The old police force that once allowed this behaviour perhaps to go unaddressed and for people not to be held accountable for it, is no longer the police force that we have moving forward."
