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Members of the federal government\u2019s own expert advisory panel on sexual violence have called for \u201curgent\u201d independent national oversight of police after new revelations about Queensland police failures before the killing of the First Nations woman Kardell Lomas.<\/p>\n
Guardian Australia\u2019s Broken trust investigation revealed that Lomas, a 31-year-old Kamilaroi and Mununjali woman, had sought help from police and other agencies in the months before she was killed.<\/p>\n
Her family has applied for an inquest to examine, among other things, failures by police to help Lomas, protect her from her dangerous partner, or investigate evidence of domestic violence.<\/p>\n
A statement signed by 16 of the 20 members of the expert panel selected to advise the federal government about sexual violence law reform has called on the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, to take \u201curgent, decisive action\u201d in relation to the case.<\/p>\n
They said the case highlighted issues they had raised throughout the Australian Law Reform Commission\u2019s inquiry into justice responses to sexual violence but that the inquiry\u2019s recommendations had not gone far enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cExpert advisory group members repeatedly warned of the chronic failure of police to investigate violence,\u201d the statement says.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe brought forward lived experience, organisational data, and decades of frontline insight. We made clear that victim-survivors, especially those already marginalised, cannot rely on a system that routinely dismisses or delays their pleas for help.\u201d<\/p>\n
The inquiry report, they said, \u201cdoes not address these issues to the extent that is urgently required\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many victim-survivors, including First Nations women, this reflects a broad systemic pattern in which very serious concerns about egregious policing responses or failures to respond are not adequately confronted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen continue to pay the price, sometimes with their lives, for this ongoing pattern of dismissal, delay and inadequate responses that leave them unprotected in critical moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis moment requires national leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement called for an inquest into Lomas\u2019s death. Her family has made an application for this and the Queensland attorney general, Deb Frecklington, is considering it.<\/p>\n
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We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n It also called for \u201cimmediate national action to establish truly independent oversight of police responses to violence in every state and territory\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout meaningful accountability, preventable deaths will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n In Queensland, a 2022 inquiry recommended the establishment of a civilian-led integrity unit to handle complaints about police. The implementation of that recommendation has stalled and its future is unclear.<\/p>\n The vast majority of complaints about police are investigated by other police.<\/p>\n In one case investigated as part of the Broken trust series, a whistleblower complained to the Crime and Corruption Commission about police failing to properly investigate the police response before the murder of Hannah Clarke and her children. The CCC sought to refer the complaint back the police.<\/p>\n Indigenous Australians can call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for information and crisis support. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org<\/em><\/p>\n Quick Guide<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Show<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n If you have something to share about this story, you can contact the Guardian Australia news teams using one of the following methods.<\/p>\n Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/strong><\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. 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Guardian Australia\u2019s Broken trust investigation revealed that Lomas, a 31-year-old Kamilaroi and Mununjali woman, had sought help<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[680,376,1386,4370,14263,19933,19934,3457,1551,2809,4251,1388],"class_list":{"0":"post-35336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-calls","9":"tag-death","10":"tag-domestic","11":"tag-horrific","12":"tag-independent","13":"tag-kardell","14":"tag-lomas","15":"tag-oversight","16":"tag-police","17":"tag-sparks","18":"tag-urgent","19":"tag-violence"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Contact Guardian Australia<\/h4>\n