Class action claims Indigenous staff were called slurs, exposed to racist language and paid less for doing the same work

Warning: This article contains racist and offensive language directed at First Nations people

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Aboriginal community police officers are suing the Northern Territory government and the NT police force alleging systemic discrimination and underpayment, the widespread use of racist slurs against Indigenous colleagues and community members, and abuse spanning nearly three decades.

The class action, on behalf of Aboriginal community police officers (Acpos or Apos) who worked in the NT between 1998 and 2025, is led Shawn Lewfatt, a Darwin man who has served as an Acpo since 1998. He said decades on the job had left him dreading putting on his uniform.

Lewfatt claimed he witnessed and was the recipient of racist taunts and widespread racism, contempt and violence against himself, other community officers and the wider Indigenous community. The toll eventually forced him to take medical leave two years ago, he said.

“We’d hear [non-Indigenous] police officers make comments like boong, coons, gins, lubras,” he told Guardian Australia. “They would refer us – when I say us Aboriginal community police officers – as slappos, so they put the SL in front of Apos to make Slapos … a reference to us being slack.”

He alleged hearing colleagues speak with open violent, contemptuous and dehumanising language referring to Aboriginal people in their custody, and when on patrol while working in Darwin and surrounding areas.

“I’d hear comments of, ‘I feel better now that I’ve got to smash those coons’ or, ‘If you want any black cunts locked up let me know,’” Lewfatt said. “I heard police officers referring to Aboriginal women as ‘fucking dogs’, or ‘camp dogs’.”

He also alleged that he had been chronically underpaid. Over his nearly 30-year tenure, he claimed, he was routinely given work above his expected his duties – comparable to the level of constable – without appropriate pay. That meant he and his fellow community officers received less pay than their non-Indigenous colleagues performing the tasks.

“I used to numb myself,” he said. “I had to numb myself to be able to go to work and ignore what goes on just to be able to turn up to work and do my job.”

The class action was lodged in the federal court in July by Gordon Legal. It alleges claimants faced widespread racial vilification, abuse and discrimination in their workplace.

Seb O’Meara, partner and lawyer at the firm, said the suit was the result of a two-year process beginning with a Human Rights Commission complaint, which was terminated by the commission in May.

The statement of claim alleges that the actions of the NT government and NT police breached the Racial Discrimination Act.

O’Meara said about 60 Acpos were employed across the jurisdiction at any one time, putting the potential number of people impacted in the hundreds.

The allegations include racial vilification and hate speech, both directed at Acpos and at community members within their hearing.

“It was systemic,” O’Meara alleged. “It was not on an ad hoc or intermittent basis or as a consequence of a few bad actors, but … it was widespread, out in the open, and … senior personnel within the police force failed to take action to prevent it.”

He said the Acpos also complain of unequal pay, terms and conditions. “One of their core employment claims is under the Racial Discrimination Act, [alleging] they were paid significantly less than constables who are predominantly non-Indigenous to often do essentially the same work, which was serving and protecting community members in the Northern Territory.”

NT police told Guardian Australia it was aware of the legal action but that it would be “inappropriate to comment further”. The NT government has also been contacted for comment.