The Northern Territory government is facing widespread condemnation over proposed reforms to its child protection system, which critics argue will worsen the crisis for First Nations children. Legal and child advocates have labelled the changes, which include weakening the Aboriginal child placement principle, as 'dangerous, ignorant and wrong'.
Background to the Reforms
The draft legislation was unveiled alongside a major review into the territory's child protection system, announced after the high-profile death of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby in Alice Springs. The Warlpiri child's alleged killing has prompted nationwide mourning and calls for action, though her mother has repeatedly asked that her death not be used for political reasons.
Key Changes Under the Draft Legislation
The amendments erode the Aboriginal child placement principle, a national framework enshrined in law since the 1980s in response to the Stolen Generations. It will be replaced with a new universal principle. The draft law removes sections stating an Aboriginal child 'has the right to be brought up within their own family and community and on the child's own country', and removes direct reference to the placement principle.
Instead, it says a child's family has primary responsibility for their care, but that 'a child must be removed from the child's family if there is a significant and likely risk of harm to the child'. It adds that, as far as practicable and consistent with the child's best interests, children should be placed close to their family and community and supported to maintain connections to family, community, culture, traditions, language and country.
Criticism from Advocates
A coalition of 330 First Nations and justice organisations, including Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory and SNAICC, strongly oppose the changes. They say the reforms will make it easier to remove Aboriginal children, harder to place them in kinship care, and more difficult to reunite them with family or return to Country.
'We strongly reject the NT Government's deliberate portrayal of Aboriginal families, communities, and culture as a risk to children's safety,' said Theresa Roe, chief executive of APO NT. The advocates argue that lowering the threshold for removal and fast-tracking long-term placements will 'deepen an already devastating crisis'.
Government's Position
NT Child Protection Minister Robyn Cahill defended the reforms, saying they aim to protect children from ongoing harm and provide stability. 'The ongoing cycle of harm, risk and uncertainty needs to be addressed, and the only way to achieve that is to put the basic human rights of a child's safety before anything else,' she said.
Cahill noted that Family Responsibility Agreements will be strengthened to encourage parental accountability. 'Where it is safe to do so, we want children with their families, but where it is not, we will act decisively,' she added.
Federal Response
Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy criticised Cahill's comments, saying they imply Aboriginal families do not know how to look after their children. 'That is not the case,' McCarthy stated, urging the minister to engage with Indigenous communities.
The child protection review will be led by former New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb and NT public servant Greg Shanahan. Advocates have called for the review's scope to include housing, health, and corrections departments that influence child safety.
