NT nurses shouldn’t have fled community

Aaron Bunch | October 11, 2022

Health workers blamed for an Indigenous teenager’s death after they were evacuated from his remote Northern Territory community over safety fears shouldn’t have fled, a nurse has told an inquest has heard.

Kumanjayi Walker, 19, died after Constable Zachary Rolfe shot him three times during a botched arrest in Yuendumu, northwest of Alice Springs on November 9, 2019.

Officers fought to save the Warlpiri man’s life but he died on the floor at the local police station about an hour after the incident.

No medical staff were on call in the community to help because most had evacuated earlier in the day after break-ins and vandalism at their homes escalated, leaving some feeling “very unsafe” and targeted.

Senior nurse Cassandra Holland on Tuesday told the coroner that NT Health ordered the team to evacuate and did not give them any alternatives but to leave.

“Management kept saying: ‘You need to leave now’… I was told in no uncertain terms that I had no choice,” she told the Alice Springs inquest.

“I said I did not feel unsafe and I wished to stay.”

She said Yuendumu had “a lot of sick people” with complex health needs and it was inappropriate for the nurses, who were placed in a “tough” position, to leave.

“I don’t believe any community should be left without a health service,” she said.

“I expressed many concerns to management.”

Ms Holland said NT Health’s management should have worked with police, the community and nurses to resolve the situation and make health staff feel secure.

“I would have very much liked to see NT Health arrive on site and work to mediate the situation because leaving was not something I was comfortable with,” the nurse with over 40 years of experience on the job said.

After the order was given, Ms Holland drove around the community of 900 telling patients and Elders her team was pulling out.

“I spent a considerable time delivering medication,” she said.

She also spoke to the community’s senior police officer, Sergeant Julie Frost, who expressed her concerns about health staff leaving, and helped organise an important community funeral scheduled for later in the day while dealing with abuse from community members angry about the decision.

Ms Holland was not permitted to return to the community with the other health workers on November 12, other than to collect her belongings.

“I was held accountable for the actions of leaving,” she said.

“I was informed that I was not allowed to go back to community because of the way we left.

“I was blamed. I was shunned.”

Some community members also blamed other nurses for Mr Walker’s death and were openly hostile when they returned to Yuendumu.

Ms Holland alleged that an NT Health manager made her a scapegoat to the Walpiri community, who in turn banned her from returning to work. 

She agreed with counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer that she was deeply hurt by the decision, saying: “I have trauma after the fact a 19-year-old died in community and there was no health response.”

Earlier, graduate nurse Mathilda Starbuck told the coroner she became afraid for her safety when a pick axe, a shovel and other tools were discovered outside the nurses’ quarters after an attempted break-in during the early hours of November 9.

“If they were using that to get into the property it means they could potentially be carrying that within the property,” she said.

“If you are at home you can’t tell what could happen.”

Police attended the scene and told the nurses they believed the break-ins were being led by a young man who had previously lunged at police with an axe when they tried to arrest him.

Mr Walker threatened police with an axe on November 6 to evade arrest after fleeing from a correctional facility in Alice Springs.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.