The woman leading an audit of the Northern Territory police force's response to domestic violence has acknowledged "clear" mistakes and victim blaming are among its past failings.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains an image of a person who has died.
NT Police yesterday announced plans to establish a new police taskforce to review how they deal with intimate partner violence incidents, focusing initially on Alice Springs and surrounding regions.
Detective Superintendent Kirsten Engels admitted there was need for change in the Territory police force.
"We acknowledge mistakes in the past; they've been clear for people to see in certain cases," she said.
"And we need to acknowledge ways that we can do things better and reflect, and we need to accept things that have happened and move forward.
"This project is one way we can do that."
Flaws in police response
The announcement came after a Four Corners investigation revealed 315 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have been murdered, killed or disappeared in the past two decades.
Of those women, 70 were killed in Central Australia — ranking it among the highest homicide rates in the world.
The report highlighted flaws in the way police deal with violence against First Nations women and concerns the police force does not take this vulnerable cohort seriously enough.
Among the stories featured was that of prominent Central Australian anti-domestic violence campaigner R Rubuntja, who was murdered by her partner of two years, Malcolm Abbott.
Despite calling NT Police 18 times over the course of their relationship, Abbott was never charged with offences related to her allegations that he had been abusive.
It has prompted responses from First Nations women on the frontline of this issue, who say they frequently witness racism and discrimination among police.
NT Police Minister Kate Worden has hit back at the accusations, saying police are highly trained, with the majority doing "a really good job all the time".
Taskforce to drive improvements
In its audit of NT Police, the taskforce said it would ensure police were responding to victims "consistently and compassionately" and partnering with communities and other agencies to target driving factors.
"We look forward to the data coming out of that to see what we're doing really well and what we may need to reflect on," Detective Engels said.
"Hopefully this will point that out to us."
But she emphasised Aboriginal women who are abused by their partners should never be treated differently by police.
"A person suffering harm is a person suffering harm, regardless of where they come from or what their race is," she said.
Calls for more collaboration
Detective Engels said at times, domestic violence incidents were treated in isolation, rather than as the escalation of intimate partner violence.
"Not just the police, I think the stakeholders, everyone involved in domestic violence — we're not working together as well as we could," she said.
"I think if we all collectively join up our information, we'll come up with a holistic view of a relationship."
Advocates for First Nations domestic violence survivors says many victims are too scared to call for help because police often identify them as aggressors.
"I would accept that at times police arrive at a very chaotic and very volatile, sometimes very violent situations, and there's snap decisions that need to be made," Detective Engels said.
"Decisions are made based on what we see, and I will acknowledge that sometimes there needs to further information added as the investigation goes on."
