The following is a transcript of Tony Armstrong’s comments on ABC News Breakfast.
The allegations themselves are very, very concerning. There’s going to be a lot more to play out with these in the next whoever knows how long.
But I just want to send my love to all First Nations people who are out there reading this and anyone who is affected by this, but especially First Nations people because it has been a tough little period.
I think if we put this into a bigger context, we’ve had basically 10 days of wall-to-wall coverage of the queen. I know the queen means so much to so many people. To First Nations people she was, I guess, the ultimate symbol of colonisation, and we all know what came with colonisation to First Nations people.
Earlier on this week, I think we had the banning of spit hoods. They were disproportionately used on First Nations people.
We are currently seeing what is happening in the Kumanjayi Walker case and some text messages that have been sent to and from different people who serve in the police. We’ve had 517 deaths in custody since the royal commission to date.
Now these allegations, I mean, contextually, on top of all of that, it is not easy being out here. I’m very, very sad to read these allegations, and I guess most importantly my thoughts are with the families who are allegedly affected. Just spare a thought for those people today.
Watch it in full here:
