The death of a 37 year old First Nations man in custody this morning in Cessnock is a tragedy for his family, his community and the country. This is the seventh death of a First Nations person in Australian jails since 2 March, FOUR of these deaths were in NSW jails.

Every First Nations death in custody is an inevitable result of the racist criminal justice system that results in First Nations people in NSW being the most incarcerated people in the world.

It cannot be accepted that First Nations people routinely die in custody.

Right now there is also a need to make the coronial process culturally safe for First Nations families so that the 7 families who have lost a relative in the last 6 weeks are not further traumatised and get the answers they need.