A slug from an assault rifle bores through the picture of an Aborigine. It’s the sort of thing that might win you a stuffed animal at The Hammer Skins Summer Fair. It’s also a typical day of target practice for Australia’s Queensland Special Emergency Response Team. It’s been discovered that the elite police unit has been using photographs of actual people, including Aborigines and prisoners, in their arms training exercises.

According to police commissioner Bob Atkinson, members of the SERT units needed the images to train for “real life” hostage and terrorist situations. Atkinson offered his regrets on the matter being published, and extended his apologies to anyone “embarrassed by [the publication].”

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, an indigenous people’s advocacy group, is calling for a royal investigation, saying the revelation has dealt a hard blow to the black/white reconciliation process. Other civil libertarians want to see an official Crime and Misconduct inquiry opened.

» Scott Saxon