Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this release contains names and references to people who have died.
Five deaths, same story. Fatal restraints and duty of care breaches continue to kill First Nations people with disability across Australia.
Explosive court documents have revealed a young Aboriginal man died of acute respiratory failure after being held in a bear hug and with a knee to his back while in the care of registered NDIS provider Life Without Barriers in Alice Springs. The death, which occurred in April 2022, has only now come to light through civil proceedings, prompting the First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN) to demand immediate criminal investigations and a national ban on dangerous restraint practices.
This revelation is the latest in a devastating pattern of preventable deaths. FPDN asks all allies to elevate the voice of Mob in recognising that too many First Nations people with disability are on a predictable pathway to premature death, created by catastrophic and intersecting failures across Australia’s disability, guardianship, and justice systems.
“Our communities are grieving yet another death of a young Aboriginal person with disability in circumstances of restraint,” said FPDN CEO Damian Griffis. “FPDN emphasises that behaviour in crisis is often communication of pain, fear, trauma or unmet need, and responses must prioritise safety, dignity and rights, consistent with NDIS behaviour-support rules. Where there is immediate risk to the person or others, any intervention must be proportionate, time-limited, and recorded within a behaviour support plan, with the goal of reducing and eliminating restrictive practices.”
“In circumstances such as these, families should not have to fight through the civil courts just to get basic answers about how their loved ones died in the very systems that were supposed to protect them. Civil cases are not a substitute for justice.”
“We cannot normalise death by restraint.”
A pattern of preventable deaths, not isolated incidents
This newly revealed tragedy in Alice Springs joins a mounting death toll where the duty of care has been fatally breached:
- Kumanjayi White, 24, a Warlpiri man with a cognitive disability, died in May 2025 after NT Police restrained him face-down in an Alice Springs supermarket. Witnesses report an officer placed a knee behind his head or neck as he made gurgling noises and struggled to breathe. Mr. White was under a state guardianship order for his protection and had been forced to leave his home community to access NDIS services.
- Kyah Lucas, 28, a non-verbal Aboriginal woman, died in 2022 from complications of severe burns to up to 40% of her body after support workers from NDIS provider LiveBetter placed her in scalding bath water. The provider, which had failed to conduct formal risk assessments or provide adequate training, was fined a record $1.8 million for its negligence.
- David Dungay Jr., 26, a Dunghutti man with schizophrenia, died in 2015 after five prison guards stormed his cell and held him face-down for refusing to stop eating biscuits. He gasped “I can’t breathe” 12 times before he died.
- Clinton Austin, 38, a Gunditjmara/Wiradjuri man with a cognitive impairment, found unresponsive in his cell; the inquest heard he waited more than two years for NDIS disability support while in custody, exposing deadly gaps at the disability–justice interface and the unmet support needs of those in custody.
- Kumanjayi Johnson, 45, an Arrernte man with severe mental impairment, under the Public Guardian and an NDIS participant, went missing from Alice Springs supported accommodation and was found deceased six days later. The inquest heard of communication gaps and family being left out of his care, findings are pending. The case highlights safeguarding failures in Supported Independent Living and the need for culturally safe, family-inclusive practice.
A national crisis: by the numbers
FPDN analysis reveals the deadly effects of systemic racism and ableism:
- Since the 1991 Royal Commission, 608 First Nations people have died in custody. Zero convictions of police or corrections officers have been recorded for any of these deaths.
- First Nations people experience disability at 2.5 times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians for severe or profound disability.
- Almost two-thirds (64%) of the Indigenous mortality burden consists of potentially avoidable deaths, a direct measure of health system failure.
- Over 40% of Indigenous deaths in custody involved people with a known mental health condition or cognitive disability.
- In the Northern Territory, First Nations people are 26% of the population but 86% of the prison population.
The system that kills: a predictable pathway to harm
FPDN has mapped the state-sanctioned pathway that leads from care, to custody, and ultimately to preventable deaths:
- Market Failure & Forced Displacement: The NDIS fails to provide culturally safe services on Country, forcing individuals like Kumanjayi White to be removed from their communities, kin, and culture to access care.
- Cultural Isolation & Crisis: Severed from their support networks, individuals’ vulnerability and distress increases. Disability-related behaviours are misinterpreted and met with force, not care.
- Fatal Force: Distress is met with a law enforcement response, where dangerous restraints are applied despite well-known risks of positional asphyxia, leading to a fatal outcome.
“Kumanjayi White was under a state guardianship order for his protection. He was killed by agents of that same state,” said Tennille Lamb, FPDN Director of Policy and Strategy. “When the entity responsible for protection is also the perpetrator of harm, where is the accountability?”
Blueprints for action are being systematically ignored
Two landmark Royal Commissions, the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the 2023 Disability Royal Commission, have provided detailed blueprints for reform. The Disability Royal Commission’s final report dedicated an entire volume to the systemic failures facing First Nations people, calling for urgent, community-led solutions.
“The solutions are known and have been for decades. We don’t need more inquiries; we need implementation,” said Mr. Griffis. “This inaction is a deliberate policy choice to accept these deaths as a tolerable cost of maintaining a discriminatory and dangerous status quo.”
FPDN’s Non-Negotiable Demands for Immediate Action
FPDN calls on all levels of government to act without delay:
1. Justice and Transparency NOW
- An independent criminal investigation into the April 2022 death in Alice Springs.
- Immediate public release of all CCTV and body-worn camera footage to the families of the deceased.
- Establish a national, real-time public reporting system for all deaths in disability services and in custody within 24 hours.
2. Ban Dangerous Restraints Immediately
- A national, enforceable prohibition on all prone (face-down) restraints, “bear hugs,” “basket holds,” and any physical restraint that restricts breathing, with criminal penalties for their use.
- Mandatory, independently audited training for all police, corrections, and disability support workers in culturally safe, disability-affirming de-escalation.
3. Fund and Empower First Nations Community-Controlled Solutions
- Redirect NDIS funding to Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) to design and deliver culturally safe supports on Country, ending the policy of forced displacement.
- Establish and fund a network of First Nations Disability Justice programs to provide a culturally safe alternative to police for crisis intervention and de-escalation.
4. Implement Royal Commission Recommendations
- Full implementation of the recommendations from the Disability Royal Commission’s Volume 9 (First Nations) and all outstanding recommendations from the RCIADIC, co-designed with First Nations people with disability.
- Immediately establish the National First Nations Disability Forum with decision-making power, as recommended by the DRC in Volume 9 of the Final Report.
“How many more funerals will it take before governments act?” asked Ms. Lamb. “These aren’t unavoidable tragedies, they’re the predictable outcomes of systems that criminalise vulnerability and fail in their most basic duty of care. Our people deserve to be safe. We demand truth, accountability, and change, not silence.”
NOTES:
• The civil case against Life Without Barriers regarding the April 2022 death is scheduled to return to the NT Supreme Court on September 4, 2025.
• Medical and legal guidance across Australia explicitly warns against the use of prone restraint and any hold that compromises breathing due to the high risk of positional asphyxia.
About First Peoples Disability Network
FPDN is the national peak organisation led by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability. We advocate for the human rights of 60,000+ First Nations people with disability and their families and work to ensure policies, programs and services are culturally safe, accessible and anchored in self-determination.
FPDN’s Director of Policy and Strategy Tennille Lamb is available for further comment and interviews.
For all media enquires please contact:
FPDN Media Team
Email: [email protected] or Mobile: 0429 291 730
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