Grieving Mother accuses govt of ‘trampling on our graves’

The mother of an Indigenous woman who died in custody after being refused bail has accused Labor of “trampling on our graves” as Victoria’s Police Minister Anthony Carbines disputed a coroner’s findings into her death.

Donna Nelson said Mr Carbine’s attempts to reintroducing bail offences would be a “betrayal” of Aboriginal women and mothers who have “suffered at the hands of racist and discriminatory laws”.

“It seems like my daughter and the Aboriginal community is only worthy for this government when it is convenient for them to make them look good, otherwise they are quite happy to trample on our graves,” Ms Nelson said.

She accused the State government of using her daughter’s death to promote a “fair and just” bail system but were now working to “undermine these reforms to improve their polling numbers”.

Coroner Simon McGregor had found the bail laws were a “complete, unmitigated disaster”, contributing to the death of Veronica Nelson in custody on January 2020. She had been refused bail for shop theft offences in December 2019.

The coroner said the Bail Act had a “discriminatory impact on First Nations people, resulting in grossly disproportionate rates of [First Nations people] remanded in custody, the most egregious of which affects alleged offenders who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women”.

Minister Carbines told The Guardian “everything was on the table” when asked if the bail offence laws would be reintroduced.

“We need to deal with those people who don’t respect the courts and don’t respect the opportunities they get and their freedom,” he said.

Nerita Waight, the CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service has accused Carbines of attempting to “rewrite history”.

Read mother Donna Nelson’s statement:

https://www.vals.org.au/statements-from-veronica-nelsons-family/