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Home truths hit hard for Bentleigh ABC broadcaster

21 May 2008 - WHEN ABC journalist Jeff Waters was told to cover the riots on Palm Island in 2004 he had not expected to be confronted with the same attitudes he had seen as a young man growing up in Queensland.

photo courtesy Jeff Waters

After working overseas and coming back to Brisbane in 2004, he was told of a new and enlightened society which espoused modern and liberal attitudes.

Unfortunately as the story on Palm Island developed and Waters was sent to cover it, he saw that very little had in fact changed in his home state.

This led to his book, Gone for A Song; A death in custody on Palm Island.

Waters was speaking last week at Brighton Library before the book's release this month.

Now working for the ABC in Melbourne, Waters used his days off to write the book at the library.

Gone for A Song details the story of Mulrunji, an Aborigine who died in custody in 2004. The police officer charged with his death was acquitted of manslaughter, yet many aspects of the case remain unresolved. Waters investigates the issues surrounding the case and gathers many sources to finish the book, an expose, which is a lone voice for justice on an issue that he says has been quickly forgotten by many media outlets.

He writes about the first Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody in 1991, which recommended that police and prison officers must be held accountable for the proper performance of their duties.

It said: "Justice requires that both the individual interest of the deceased's family and the general interest of the community be served by the conduct of thorough, competent and impartial investigations into all deaths in custody."

After reporting the story of Mulrunji and the circumstances surrounding his death, Waters found, even 15 years later, little had changed and the recommendations had not been followed.

"Not only was the Royal Commission not listened to and its recommendations ignored, leaders in Queensland were not listening to what was said, Waters said.

"I hope Gone for a Song illustrates the generally poor treatment of indigenous Australians.

"If we as a community, and I mean all Australians, treated them as equals then the authorities would treat them differently."

The treatment he observed investigating the story and in his inquiries made him angry, and Waters said he diverted that anger to write the book.

"If this book raised the profile of Aboriginal housing issues I'd be over the moon," said Waters, who grew up in Brisbane's southern suburbs.

Gone for a Song by Jeff Waters, published by ABC Books and Allen and Unwin, is available from ABC shops, ABC centres and selected bookshops.

Source: The Leader

Related links:

• Gone for a song
  12 May 2008 - Media Release - A new book, written by a journalist who closely followed the story of the death in custody of Mulrunji on Palm Island in 2004, is calling for the full release of compelling evidence which is still being kept secret.

Further information: palm island, law, books issues pages - includes news index and external links

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