Family of Tanya Day - Statement

This is a historic day for Aboriginal people in this country, and a bitter-sweet day for our family. 

Hundreds of Aboriginal people have died in police custody, yet no police officer has ever been held criminally responsible. This is a stain on this country. Our families and communities are being decimated by the racism that infects police. 

Today, the Coroner in the inquest into our mum’s death referred two police officers for criminal investigation. This isn’t the end of the road, but it is the beginning of justice for our mum.

There has never been any doubt in our mind that Victoria Police are responsible for our mum’s death. The Coroner found that the police should have sought medical care rather than taking her to a cell. The Coroner found that once mum was in the cell, the police failed to properly check on her, treated her with complacency and breached her human rights to humane treatment and dignity. 

We are pleased that the Coroner found that the V/Line conductor acted in a racist way, but we’re disappointed that the Coroner stopped short of finding that Victoria Police were influenced by systemic racism. We know that our mum would have been treated differently and would still be alive today if she was a non-Indigenous person. 

We know that our mum died in custody because she was targeted for being an Aboriginal woman. At the time our mum was arrested, Aboriginal women were close to 11 times more likely to be targeted by police for being drunk in public than non-Aboriginal women. All of us must reckon with this. At every step of the way, our mum was failed by a system that should have protected her. 

It is heartbreaking for us to hear that our mum’s death was preventable had she not been arrested and taken into police custody. In other words, if the Victorian Government had done what the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in custody recommended 30 years ago and abolished the offence of public drunkenness, our mum would still be alive today. 

While it is commendable that the Andrews Government has committed to repealing the offence of public drunkenness - this can not happen soon enough. There can be no reason for delay. 

We are pleased that the Coroner has understood why it is so important that police do not investigate police when it comes to Aboriginal deaths in custody. There must be independent investigations of police wrongdoing if there is to be truth and accountability. 

We have lost our mother in the cruelest of circumstances. Our family will never be the same. While there are sparks of justice in today’s decision, this country has so much further to travel. For as long as Aboriginal people are targeted by police, are locked up and mistreated, and continue to die in police custody, the fight for true and complete justice for our people will be ongoing.