An independent review prompted by a five-year-old girl’s alleged outback murder has found “extensive failings” by a territory’s child protection department.
The body of Kumanjayi Little Baby was found five days after she was allegedly abducted from Alice Springs’ Old Timers camp in April, sparking widespread outrage and vigils across Australia.
Jefferson Lewis, 47, has been charged with her murder and is awaiting trial.
The Northern Territory government initiated an independent review of the child protection system by former NSW police commissioner Karen Webb and longtime public servant Greg Shanahan.
The review, tabled in the NT parliament on Tuesday, found child protection officers repeatedly failed to adequately assess safety threats to Kumanjayi Little Baby and her family.
The government had accepted the review’s 45 recommendations in full to prompt “considerable structural reform” of the child protection system, NT Children and Families Minister Robyn Cahill told reporters on Tuesday.
She said the mistakes made were “unforgivable”, with a disconnect between what the legislation required officers to do and the policies put in place under the previous Labor government.
The minister said she had directed her department to audit existing safety frameworks and have all people involved assessed to make sure they would be safe around children.
“Anyone to be considered must have a working with children clearance which requires a national criminal history check,” she said.
Ms Cahill said having somebody independent verify her concerns and provide a pathway forward was critical.
The report said the department had received 14 notifications over six years about Kumanjayi Little Baby’s exposure to domestic and family violence, largely involving her father.
The offences included verbal and physical violence, breaches of domestic violence orders and coercive and controlling behaviour.
Ms Cahill said despite “the escalating pattern of violence that she was being exposed to” a domestic and family violence risk assessment was never done.
Ms Webb and Mr Shanahan called for a “system-wide reset” of the department, saying it needed to move away from a predominantly reactive model of responding to notifications of harm.
In July, the NT government passed new child protection laws that explicitly state that safety must be the top priority in child welfare decisions.
The reforms were criticised for placing less emphasis on maintaining cultural connection and potentially making it easier for Aboriginal kids to be placed with non-Indigenous carers.
Children’s ministers of every state and territory except the NT and Queensland joined federal Families Minister Tanya Plibersek in releasing a statement supporting the Aboriginal child placement principle.
The principle says an Indigenous child who needs to be removed from their parents must first be placed with a family member, and only placed with a non-Indigenous carer as a last resort.