Western Australia's premier has defended his government's handling of persistent calls for an inquest into the deaths of three children murdered by their mother in the state's north, as Indigenous elders criticise what they perceive as an unnecessary delay.
WARNING: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.
The children, aged 10, seven and four months, died after their mother Margaret Hawke killed them and then deliberately set fire to their family home in South Hedland in July 2022.
During court proceedings, it emerged Hawke had sought help from a women's refuge the night before the killings but had been turned away because the service did not have the capacity to accommodate the family.
Dorothy Papertalk sits by her grandchildren's grave in South Hedland. (ABC Pilbara: Alistair Bates)
The tragedy raised questions about whether government agencies and support services had missed opportunities to intervene.
The children's grandmother, Dorothy Papertalk, subsequently campaigned for a coronial inquest to probe the circumstances leading up to their deaths and whether more could have been done to protect them.
Those calls coincided with further reporting out of South Hedland about more children living in unsafe conditions in the town, enveloping the government in a political firestorm.
Premier defends decision
Attorney General Tony Buti said on Thursday he would ask the coroner to undertake an inquest into the deaths after new evidence, not considered by the former coroner, was provided to his office.
That came after considerable political and community pressure, including from some of the state's top legal minds, for Mr Buti to intervene.
On Friday, Premier Roger Cook defended his attorney general.
Roger Cook says he will visit Port Hedland soon. (ABC News: Courtney Withers )
"The attorney general is very careful and methodical about the way he carries out his duties, and you saw a very careful and considered approach from him," he said.
The premier avoided questions from journalists about how damaging the issue had been for his government, and why he hadn't visited Port Hedland.
"I'm not here to commentate on the political fortunes of the government,"
he said.
"I'll be in Port Hedland soon, I can assure you of that."
Hope for answers
Nyamal elder Linda Doogiebee-Dridi (Milbugana) said the premier needed to see firsthand what was happening in Port Hedland.
"He's turned his back against the people," she said.
"If it wasn't for the people of the Pilbara I'm telling you now he would not become a Premier of Western Australia."
Nyamal Elder Linda Doogiebee says she feels betrayed by the WA Premier. (ABC News: Kimberley Putland)
Kariyarra elder Pat Mason said Mr Buti's decision had taken too long, but would hopefully provide much needed answers for the family.
"It's well overdue, and these things cannot be allowed to be drawn out for this space of time," she said.
"It's actually cruelty on the first instance because the grandmother and the family needed answers."
Kariyarra elder Pat Mason says the announcement of an inquest into Hawke children's deaths is overdue. (ABC News: Kimberley Putland)
Ms Mason said the inquest would show where the systems and processes had failed and hopefully lead to improvements that will benefit the children of South Hedland.
"There's a lot of things that we need to upturn, and this is one of them," she said.
"I feel proud, and my heart goes out to Dorothy for fighting that long, for that many years, and now she will finally get answers and put her at rest."