How Kumanjayi Walker’s death should change the NT Police
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What happened on November 9, 2019, involving Kumanjayi Walker?
On 9 November 2019 in Yundamu, Kumunjai Walker, a 19-year-old Wolperi Luritja teenager, was shot and killed by former Constable Zachary Rolfe.
It's been one year since Kumunjai Walker's family gathered to hear Coroner Elizabeth Armitage share her finding into his death.
Having considered all the evidence, including Mr Rolfe's explanations and justifications, I found that Mr Rolfe was racist and that he worked in and was the beneficiary of an organisation with hallmarks of institutional racism.
In 2022, Rolfe was found not guilty of Kunjaya Walker's murder, but his family have always maintained that Rolfe's racism played a role in Walker's death. Coroner Elizabeth Armitage said she couldn't rule that out.
That I cannot exclude that possibility is a tragedy for Kumanjay's family and community who will always believe that racism played an integral part in his death and it is a taint that may stain the NT Police.
I'm Daniel James and you're listening to 7am. Today, we're bringing you an episode recorded just after the inquest with investigative journalist Kate Wilde, whose book, The Red House, examines Kunjo Walker's death and how the racist culture of Northern Territory police enabled Zachary Rolfe to act with impunity. It's Sunday, July 5. This episode was originally published in July 2025. Kate, this particular inquest, can you tell me about its scope and about the coroner's approach, the questions that she was seeking to answer?
So the coronial process is designed to determine the place and cause of a person's death and the identity of the person who's died at its most basic. But it's also designed to figure out what has contributed to that death in order to prevent similar deaths in the future. And that was really the task that Elizabeth Armitage set herself, was to look more deeply at this conflict between a young Aboriginal man and a young white police officer in a single house in a remote community in the Northern Territory.
What were the findings of the coronial inquest into Kumanjayi Walker's death?
What led them both to be in that house at that moment? What were the forces, the cultural and attitudinal forces driving each of them? And what made that a fatal moment of contact? One of the things that has been most impressive about this inquest is the way that Elizabeth Armitage has run her courtroom. It's been one of the most inclusive and informal processes that I've seen. For instance, the coronial opened with... Walbury interpreter sitting next to Libby Armitage on the bench and interpreting everything that she said.
How did racism influence the events leading to Kumanjayi Walker's death?
So from the beginning, Walbury language and law and culture were sort of placed at the same level as the most senior Western legal person in the room. And those singular acts of... sort of rebellion against the way that things have always been and taking the risk of making a change like that, that risk of being taken by someone in a position of power, I think maybe that's the kind of thing that is going to bring the sorts of change that we all want to see but don't necessarily believe can come just from a single report.
And so why has it taken so long for this report to be handed down?
So the coronial started in September 2022, about six months after Rolfe's trial finished and he was acquitted. Almost immediately, Zachary Rolfe's legal team started making objections to the kind of evidence that he should be made to give. So... having to give evidence about racism within the Northern Territory Police Force. Rolf objected to giving evidence about his use of force history, about his record in the military, about text messages that were found on his phone and about his disciplinary history in the Northern Territory Police. And those legal appeals are far and away the biggest reason for delays for it going from what should have been a few months to almost three years.
So let's go to what the coroner found. When Judge Armitage read out her report, she said that having considered all the evidence, including Mr Rolfe's explanations and justifications, that she found that Mr Rolfe was racist.
While it is not possible for me to say with certainty that Mr Rolfe's racist attitudes were operative in his decisions on 9 November or were a contributing cause of Kumanjai's death, I cannot exclude that possibility.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What happened on November 9, 2019, involving Kumanjayi Walker?
0:01–2:22
2
What were the findings of the coronial inquest into Kumanjayi Walker's death?
2:22–2:54
3
How did racism influence the events leading to Kumanjayi Walker's death?
2:54–6:55
4
What was the significance of the coroner's findings regarding institutional racism?
6:55–12:55
5
How did the coronial process aim to prevent similar deaths in the future?
12:55–15:38
Speakers
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