Huge crowds joined Invasion Day rallies around Australia yesterday, including over 40,000 who marched through Melbourne, where the speeches focussed on youth suicide and deaths in custody. One key demand was the repeal of public drunkenness laws, which disproportionately affect Indigenous people. Last year, Tanya Day was arrested for public drunkenness after falling asleep on a train, and died in Castlemaine Police Station. Her family is calling on the Andrews Government to implement the recommendation of the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody to repeal the law.
27 January 2019