Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this report contains names and references to people who have died.
The First Peoples Disability Network has called for urgent reforms after court documents 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 Mparntwe/Alice Springs.
The death, which occurred in April 2022, has only now come to light through civil proceedings, prompting the First Peoples Disability Network to demand immediate criminal investigations and a national ban on dangerous restraint practices.
"Five deaths, same story. Fatal restraints and duty of care breaches continue to kill First Nations people with disability across Australia," the Network said on Wednesday.
The revelation is the latest in a pattern of preventable deaths. FPDN called on "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 chief executive 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."
The Network noted the case of Kumanjayi White, 24, a Warlpiri man with a cognitive disability, who died in May 2025 after NT Police restrained him face-down in an Alice Springs supermarket.
Mr White was under a state guardianship order for his protection and had been forced to leave his home community to access NDIS services.
The FPDN also cited the case of Kyah Lucas, 28, a non-verbal Aboriginal woman, died in 2022 from complications of severe burns to up to 40 per cent 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.
The Network noted 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.
The case of Clinton Austin, 38, a Gunditjmara/Wiradjuri man with a cognitive impairment, found unresponsive in his cell, was also cited by the FPDN as an example of failures of the system. The inquest into Mr Austin's death heard he waited more than two years for NDIS disability support while in custody.
The FPDN also noted that Kumanjayi Johnson, 45, an Arrernte man with severe mental impairment, was under the Public Guardian and an NDIS participant, when he went missing from Alice Springs supported accommodation and was found deceased six days later.
The inquest into Mr Johnson's heard of communication gaps and family being left out of his care, and findings are pending. The case highlights safeguarding failures in Supported Independent Living and the need for culturally safe, family-inclusive practice.
The First People's Disability Network pointed out that 608 First Nations people have died in custody since the 1991 Royal Commission, with more than 40 per cent of those deaths in custody involving people with a known mental health condition or cognitive disability, and zero convictions of police or corrections officers as a result.
"Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of the Indigenous mortality burden consists of potentially avoidable deaths, a direct measure of health system failure," the FPDN noted.
FPDN has mapped the state-sanctioned pathway that leads from care, to custody, and ultimately to preventable deaths:
- Market Failure and 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 and 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.
Tennille Lamb, FPDN Director of Policy and Strategy, said Kumanjayi White "was under a state guardianship order for his protection; He was killed by agents of that same state".
"When the entity responsible for protection is also the perpetrator of harm, where is the accountability?" she said.
The Network noted that blueprints for action to fix the crisis 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 called 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?" Ms Lamb asked.
"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."
