Former cop’s blunt message to Aussies defending white tradie who allegedly tied up Aboriginal kids

An ex-police officer turned federal politician has expressed her horror after three children were allegedly tied up with a cable by a tradie in Western Australia.

Shocking footage posted to Facebook showed a six-year-old girl and eight-year-old boys in tears with their hands tied together outside a house on Conkerberry Road near Cable Beach in Broome, Western Australia, on Tuesday afternoon.

WA Greens senator and former police officer Dorinda Cox said the images were disturbing and confrontational.

“We can never be okay with seeing children as young as six being humiliated, having their little wrists tied and leaving them crying in the hot sun,” she said.

“As a mother, watching these children beg for their freedom and live in fear was like watching a slow replay of the historic, racially based abuse experienced by previous generations of First Nations people.”

Ms Cox said: ‘Children are forever damaged by this type of behaviour. There is no justification for instilling terror in small children.

‘We must confront such images in the spirit of truth-telling, however confronting this may be… as a community we all have a shared responsibility to overcome abuse, violence, racism and attitudes that encourage these behaviors towards children come and tackle it.’

The senator also had a message for both her former and current colleagues.

“I call on WA Police, all Australian politicians and the wider public to stand united and send a clear message that we can never accept this happening to any child in our society, in our care,” she said.

WA’s children’s commissioner Jacqueline McGowan-Jones was also shocked.

‘It looks like these are very young and small children. Given the circumstances, they appear to be quite scared. He’s quite a big man. And they seem to be very nervous,” she told ABC Radio Perth on Wednesday.

‘These children are only six and seven. They do not have the neurological development to understand cause and effect, consequences and actions. And that is legally known.’

It is believed the tradie, 45, had been working at the house for a local air conditioning company and discovered the children swimming in a pool at the house.

A relative of young children said she was “pushed” away by the man when she tried to intervene.

A fourth boy had also been in the pool, but managed to flee and alert family members of what was happening.

A woman, who is related to the little girl and seven-year-old boy, streamed the shocking ordeal live and said the tradie refused to let them go.

“When we tried to walk in to get them, he pushed me and my mother out of the yard,” she told the newspaper Western Australian.

“When we stopped there, and when that guy pushed me out of the fence… the little (eight-year-old) boy broke the zip ties with his hands and then jumped over the fence and ran down. away.

“It was just disturbing, we were so angry at (the tradie), we just yelled at him and told him to let them go, but he just wouldn’t listen to us.”

The family member said the man kept saying he was “waiting for the police to come.”

She said one of the children also claimed the man told them he would “hit them with a big stick.”

Paramedics from St John Ambulance assessed the children, who have now been reunited with their families.

Western Australia Police confirmed a man had been arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated assault.

Police were initially called to the property due to reports of a burglary.

“The Broome man was taken into custody, questioned about the matter and charged,” Western Australia Police said.

“It is alleged that the force used to restrain the children was disproportionate in the circumstances.”

He was released on bail and is due to appear in court at a later date.

The local air conditioning company has since been subjected to online abuse and one-star Google ratings.

Witness Leandra McKenzie said The children were sad and cried out for their mother.

“They were scared, they were crying, shaking and singing to their mother,” she said.

“It would have been more than an hour.” . . we shouted at him to tell them to release them. . . but he just wouldn’t give up.’

The witness claimed that the children were trapped for up to an hour, on a day when temperatures rose to 33 degrees Celsius.

The relative said the children knew it was wrong to enter the property, but said they were “just kids” trying to cool off on a hot day.