Father of anti-racism leader and Northern Territory Australian of the Year Leanne Liddle reports racial profiling at bottle shop

Geoffrey Liddle’s daughter has spent the past few years working tirelessly on a plan to fix the Northern Territory’s Indigenous incarceration crisis and the systemic racism underpinning it, however, he now avoids buying alcohol for fear of being racially profiled again. 

His daughter, Leanne Liddle, has recently been recognised as the Northern Territory’s Australian of the Year.

Soon she’ll travel to Canberra with fellow Australian of the Year nominees being celebrated for the changes they’re making in their field.

At home in Alice Springs, though, Geoffrey Liddle is still dealing with the shame and hurt wrought by what, he says, was an experience of racial profiling by NT Police.

Ms Liddle — who was also the first Indigenous woman to become a police officer in South Australia and is the architect of the NT’s Aboriginal Justice Agreement — says what happened to her father is an “embarrassment on the country”.

“When I see a 76-year-old man crushed because he’s done nothing wrong, then I think the system needs to be checked,” Ms Liddle said.

In June 2020, with the help of his daughter, Mr Liddle launched a discrimination complaint against NT Police over his treatment by an officer at a bottle-shop in Alice Springs. 

The matter has now been settled confidentially out of court.

Mr Liddle declined to be interviewed for this story.

Ms Liddle said she was also unable to comment in detail on the incident itself for legal reasons.

However, she said, the treatment of her father by a police officer had hurt him deeply and he will no longer buy alcohol in Alice Springs.

“The fact that a person who rarely drinks alcohol can’t now go and buy alcohol, in his own hometown, where he’s a traditional owner … the unfairness of that at play is far more significant than what people think,” she said.

‘Have you got something to hide?’

Mr Liddle’s account of what happened is summarised in a report prepared by the Northern Territory’s Anti-Discrimination Commission and released to the ABC.

In his statement, Mr Liddle said a police officer followed him into the bottle shop as he was carrying two cases of mid-strength beer to the counter.

Mr Liddle said the officer made comments including “that’s a lot of beer” and asked: “Have you got something to hide?”

In the NT, auxiliary police officers who are stationed at bottle shops in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine have powers to ask customers questions about where the alcohol they’re buying will be consumed.

The policy is supported by Aboriginal health groups on the frontline of alcohol-related harm and, alongside reforms such as the minimum floor price, has been credited with reducing alcohol-related hospital admissions to intensive care in Alice Springs. 

However, there has been debate and concern about how the policy is implemented in practice and previous complaints about racial profiling. 

Mr Liddle said the questions asked of him were not put to other customers and believes they were asked because he is Aboriginal.

NT Police denied wrongdoing in response to Mr Liddle’s complaint and said the officer’s actions and questions were authorised under the Liquor Act.

But the Northern Territory Anti-Discrimination Commission considered Mr Liddle’s complaint had “reasonable prospect of success” on his claim of being discriminated against by race.

CCTV footage obtained by the ABC shows the interaction between Mr Liddle and the auxiliary officer but does not include an audio recording.

In its assessment in response to Mr Liddle’s complaint, the commission’s assessor wrote: “There are some customers who do buy more than you, and the video does not show them being treated as you were.”

“I think an inference is raised that he was suspicious of you, and a reasonable interpretation is that this could have been because of your race,” the assessor wrote.

Mr Liddle has also said he was discriminated against on the basis of age in the same interaction, which the assessor did not find had a reasonable chance of success.

Complaint alleges ‘institutional racism’ within police

Part of the complaint also relates to the initial response from senior police in Alice Springs, who did not see anything wrong with the way Mr Liddle was handled, with the head of the Alice Springs police alcohol unit describing the auxiliary officer as “polite”.

Geoffrey and Leanne Liddle argued that response demonstrates “institutional racism” on the part of police.

Thalia Anthony is a law professor at the University of Technology Sydney and was an expert witness who gave evidence in support of Mr Liddle’s complaint to the anti-discrimination commission.

“When a complaint was made to senior police in Alice Springs, his complaint was treated disrespectfully, and there was no accountability that flowed from the complaint,” she said.

She said it was concerning that the Liddles were unable to talk fully about what happened because of the confidentiality requirement in the settlement.

“I think there needs to be some openness about these types of misconduct, these types of discriminatory behaviours on the part of the police and [police auxiliary liquor inspectors],” she said.

“Unless we have that type of transparency, we cannot have accountability.”

NT Police declined to comment on the complaint.

Police Minister Nicole Manison declined to be interviewed about it.

Asked at a press conference about why she would not comment on the incident, Ms Manison said police were subject to a high level of scrutiny already.

“I don’t think there’s another agency in the Northern Territory that has more scrutiny and rigour over it then the Northern Territory police force,” she said.

“We have body-worn cameras on our officers when they go out to duty each and every day.”

NT Police refused to release the body-worn video of the interaction with Mr Liddle and objected to its release by the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

After a months-long legal battle, the tribunal ruled in the favour of NT Police, so the footage will not be public.

Ms Liddle said she and her father pursued the complaint in the hope they could prevent someone else experiencing the same treatment.

“I think we should be ashamed of ourselves,” Ms Liddle said.

“We’ve got to do better.”

She said the initial handling of the police complaint and the confidentiality attached to the outcome was especially troubling.

The Aboriginal Justice Agreement, which is yet to be fully funded by the Northern Territory government, says “openness, honesty and ownership of systemic shortcomings” by government agencies will be needed if the system is to improve.

“How can the system change if people can’t tell their story?” Ms Liddle asked.

“How can the system accept and be held accountable for its behaviours, if people can’t tell their story?”