Police Minister Brent Potter says he and the Attorney General have called in the NT Anti-Discrimination Commission to investigate racist award certificates handed out by NT Police TRG members, but says there is no hypocrisy in him criticising the police members’ actions despite posting racist, homophobic and misogynistic material on social media around the same time the TRG awards were produced.
Mr Potter, who also praised Nazis and shared links to a video on how to “destroy” the Black Lives Matter movement in his posts over a period of six years that were hidden before he was elected in 2022, said he found the award certificates released yesterday by the Coroner to be “extremely concerning”.
Those certificates showed the Aboriginal flag on one, as well as other racially-charged material, despite TRG officers signing statutory declarations to the ongoing coronial inquest that they were not based on race.
Mr Potter said allegations of widespread racism in the police force were still being investigated internally by NT Police with assistance from the ICAC, but added he wanted to get the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner involved in examining the TRG awards.
“The Attorney General [Chansey Paech] and myself have had discussions around how can we get the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner involved early in the package,” he said on Tuesday.
“I note we still have the coronial that needs to be completed, I’d hate to make any comments that would influence that, but it’s absolutely concerning. I think the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, and the package that they will do, will be extremely important.”
Asked if he thought the awards were racist, Mr Potter said: “I think that those certificates indicate that there’s a serious issue inside the TRG that we need to be addressing.”
Mr Potter then said there was no double standard or hypocrisy in him calling the awards a “serious issue” when he was sharing racist and other hateful posts at the same time – while in the ADF around 2013 – because he has “answered those questions in public and on the public record” and did not work for the NT Police at the time he shared the posts.
The Chief Minister has excused Mr Potter’s racist, homophobic and misogynistic sentiments as being shared when he was in his 20s, while he was “on a journey” and that they do not reflect “the Brent Potter of today”.
Mr Potter said if the Anti-Discrimination Commission wanted to investigate his social media posts, they could.
Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Jeswynn Yogaratnam did not respond to questions by late afternoon, including if he would be looking into Mr Potter’s posts, that appear to be in direct contrast to proposed anti-vilification legislation the Labor Government has raised that would make it illegal to “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or group of people based on an attribute”, including gender or sexuality.
The Opposition CLP said the Police Minister involving himself in the decision-making process on the TRG matter was “shocking, especially in light of the fact that the matters being investigated by police date back as far as 2012″.
“It’s ridiculous that it is Brent Potter responsible for now calling the investigation into the TRG when he himself shared offensive material,” CLP Deputy Leader Gerard Maley said.
“His public apology doesn’t absolve him of responsibility, and Potter’s claims of moral superiority are laughable, his attempts to evade accountability are transparent for all to see.”
Minister has no credibility to comment on racism: NTPA
The NT Police Association said the “leniency extended to Mr Potter by the Chief Minister sends a damaging message about equality and integrity” and showed the Lawler Labor Government is more than willing to “turn a blind eye to racism” if it involves a member of Cabinet.
“Our members would expect Mr Potter to be held to a much higher standard, given he is a Minister of the Crown,” NTPA president Nathan Finn said.
“It’s not surprising our members feel like there is one rule for Brent Potter and another rule for everyone else, given the absence of any formal investigation into the racist, sexist, homophobic, misogynistic, and anti-Semitic social media posts shared by the Minister.
“Our members question whether the Police Minister has any credibility to comment on allegations of racism. I stand by the comment that it is difficult to see how Brent Potter can remain in the role of Police Minister.”
Coroner Elisabeth Armitage lifted the suppression order on the TRG award certificates on Monday, after the deadline for submissions arguing the certificates were illegitimate passed without any of the parties presenting any evidence.
The so-called “Nooguda” award was also known internally as the “coon of the year awards”, former constable Zach Rolfe told the coronial inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker last month.
Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said on Monday the TRG award certificates were “absolutely disgraceful and abhorrent”, but he has not suspended anyone while the investigation is ongoing, including any of the officers who appear to have misled the coronial inquest.
Mr Finn said the allegations of racism within the TRG are being taken seriously and the “investigations and processes need to run their course”.
Note: This story was updated to include comments from the NT Police Association.
Got your back, not in the NT Police, stab your back, no worries.
The dickhead way to lead! How can someone that has acted that way in the defence force stand and condemn the same behaviour when someone else does it. Chancey and Potter the A team where A stands for 🐴 Ass.
It’s interesting to note that a few years ago, Potsy formed an opinion (amongst other opinions) about these individuals despite never having to interact with them daily. Perhaps it’s worth considering getting to know them before forming opinions and then posting your ignorance. After all, our perspectives can change once we get to know a person or a particular group.
The TRG has to see and deal with the worst of them almost daily whilst risking their own lives. They know who the troublemakers are but because of our ridiculous leftist, woke attitudes everybody is scared to identify a certain race that is causing the majority of our problems. Statistics don’t lie but are apparently irrelevant.
This reminds me of the witch hunt into the ADF for war crimes, where our soldiers may have made light of the fact that they were shit scared of an almost invisible enemy but were tried for making split-second decisions based on their own will to survive in a totally unpredictable war. (Potsy wasn’t there just like he hasn’t spent any real time with the TRG)
His (Potsy and his Govts) job is to support the police which we all know has not happened in a long time.
I thank the TRG and the entire police force for persisting in trying to make our community safe with your hands tied, your resources massively depleted, your morale crushed, a spotlight on any ‘weakness’ (just ask Rolfe), a uniform that doesn’t make any sense and then trying to make light of your own situation. I am surprised that we still have a police force.
I have no right to judge you just as anybody who has not been in your position has a right. Particularly a young (but now mature) idiot who is not responsible for his own stupid actions because the leopard changed his spots. F U Potsy.
How much more rubbish can these clowns come up with???