One year ago this week, a 24-year-old Warlpiri man, Kumanjayi White, died after being restrained by police inside a supermarket in Alice Springs.

This week, his family was told the officers involved will not face charges. The coronial investigation is still underway, with another directions hearing expected next month.

Kumanjayi White’s grandfather – Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves – had already spent years calling for accountability after the death of another young Warlpiri man, Kumanjayi Walker, who was shot and killed by NT police officer Zachary Rolfe in 2019.

For Jampijinpa Hargraves, the deaths of Kumanjayi Walker and Kumanjayi White are part of the same crisis: Aboriginal people living under a system that does not make them safe.

Today, Jampijinpa Hargraves, on life under the watch of police, the pressure of systems that were never made to protect his people – and what real safety would look like.

This episode originally aired in May, 2025.

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Guest: Warlpiri elder Jampijinpa ‘Ned’ Hargraves.

Photo: AAP Image/James Ross