Queensland appointment of former detective rekindles Palm Island wounds

First Nations community leaders and members of the legal fraternity say the Queensland government has "opened old wounds" by appointing Darren Robinson, a Townsville lawyer and former police officer, to the state’s Legal Aid board. The Liberal National party government sacked and replaced all Labor-appointed members of the Legal Aid Queensland board last month, and the attorney general, Deb Frecklington, made the appointment.

Aunty Gracelyn Smallwood, who was on Palm Island on the day of the riots, said: "It's opened up a lot of raw wounds and brought back a lot of trauma." In 2004, then Sen Sgt Robinson was a friend of Christopher Hurley, the officer accused (and ultimately acquitted) of the manslaughter of Mulrunji Doomadgee.

Robinson investigated a prior complaint about Hurley and ruled the complaint was "fictitious"; an inquest described Robinson’s investigation as "superficial, biased and misleading" and found his conclusion was "dishonest and flew in the face of objective evidence".

queensland, darren robinson, legal aid, palm island, mulrunji doomadgee, christopher hurley, gracelyn smallwood, townsville, deb frecklington, police investigation