Nationwide vigils amid calls to review NT child protection
Communities across Australia will hold memorials tonight for five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby, one week after her body was found in Alice Springs, as Northern Territory leaders call for a review of the child protection system following her alleged murder.
A shrine remains outside the Old Timers camp in Alice Springs, where Kumanjayi Little Baby went missing more than a week ago. Vigils will be held nationwide tonight, with many people expected to wear pink at her family’s request.
Key Points
- Vigils nationwide tonight to honour five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby
- Attendees asked to wear pink at the family’s request
- NT minister confirms three staff stood down, two reinstated
- Calls intensify for review of NT child protection system
- Minister seeks legislation changes to put “safety first”
- Leaders cite systemic failures, housing and prison issues
- Confidentiality breach over child protection reports condemned
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Catherine Liddle, chief executive of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC), said the past week had been painful for the Alice Springs community, but the collective response had been strong.
“One of the first things I’ve seen this morning, and that was before our sunrise, was a lady getting coffee and she was dressed head to toe in pink and that included boots,” Ms Liddle said.
In an interview on the ABC’s 7.30 program, NT child Protection Minister Robyn Cahill said required processes appeared not to have been followed and that she sought advice on how the process failed, prompting the investigation. She said her focus now was to ensure the legislation governing child protection put safety at its core.
“I was horrified to learn that in our current legislation, in the principles underlying the work that should be done by the department, safety is not even included,” Ms Cahill said.
She said the situation could not continue and that legislation must place safety and protection as a principle.
Memorials are scheduled at the following locations and times:
- Alice Springs: Anzac Oval, 5:30pm
- Darwin: Parliament House, 6pm to 6:30pm
- Adelaide: Victoria Square, 6:30pm to 9:30pm
- Sydney: Town Hall, 5:30pm
- Perth: Forrest Place, 4pm to 6pm
- Canberra: Aboriginal Tent Embassy and The National Carillon, 5:30pm
- Sunshine Coast: Cotton Tree, 4:30pm
- Albany: Alison Hartman Gardens, 5:45pm
- Kalgoorlie: St Barbara Square, 4:30pm
- Mt Canobolas (near Orange), 6pm
- Carnarvon: Carnarvon Town beach, 6pm
- Lismore: Lismore Skate Park, 6pm
- Port Augusta: Gladstone Square, 5:30pm
- Port Pirie: Port Pirie Memorial Park, 6pm
- Broome: Male Oval, 5:30pm
- Geraldton: Edith Cowan Square, 5:30pm
- Ballina: Ross Park and Shelly Beach, 6pm
- Gosford: Gosford Leagues Club Park, 5:30pm
Labor member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour said that if credible reports indicated the child was at risk, the department should have acted. She argued too many vulnerable children in the Northern Territory, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, had fallen through systemic gaps over many years.
Ms Scrymgour, a former NT child protection minister, also said recommendations from multiple child protection reviews had not been implemented, and that internal debates about the Stolen Generations were hindering action.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said fears of creating more Stolen Generations, and a preference for children to remain with kin, were part of the problem.
Speaking on Kyle Stefanovic’s podcast, she called for an inquiry into conditions in remote communities and town camps, and into the child protection system. She said she has long been vilified for raising these concerns, and that children deserve safe, violence-free homes where their needs are met.
Systemic issues and confidentiality concerns
Legal experts have pointed to a lack of early prevention within the child protection system, and to housing and the prison system, as contributing to child safety risks.
North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency CEO Ben Grimes told ABC Radio Darwin the system had persistently failed to engage with families in ways that could prevent the removal of children. He said root causes must be addressed to avoid continuing an ineffective cycle.
Mr Grimes said the problems extended beyond child protection, citing a prison system lacking support for people transitioning out of incarceration and poor housing infrastructure.
He said children cannot grow up safely without stable accommodation and the ability for carers to control who enters their homes. Grimes said there had been inadequate progress on housing across successive governments.
He also criticised the leaking of child protection information related to Kumanjayi Little Baby’s family, describing it as a significant breach of confidentiality.
