Justice Debbie Mortimer found senior police breached the Racial Discrimination Act ten times, including with the declaration of a state of emergency, deploying the fully armed anti terrorism squad and failure to co-operate with authorities investigating a fellow officer.
The judge summed it up by saying it would not happen in an non-Aboriginal community.
Stefan Armbruster covered the Palm Island coroner's inquest and manslaughter trial for SBS and was in the federal court today.
He's speaking with Kristina Kukolja.