NT senator says child protection 'needs to change' after niece's alleged murder

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says her niece was let down by the system. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says "we have to do a hell of a lot better" in protecing children in Australia after the alleged murder of her neice, Kumanjayi Little Baby.

It comes after a review of the NT Department of Children and Families handling of the five-year-old's case in the lead up to her death was tabled in parliament this morning.

Senator Nampijinpa Price said "all children are sacred and should be protected as such right across this country".

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the image of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of her family.

Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says the "culture of child protection" in Australia "needs to change" after the "utter failings" of the NT's child welfare system in the lead up to her niece's alleged murder were laid bare.

Speaking after a review into the department's contact with Kumanjayi Little Baby's family was tabled in NT parliament this morning, Senator Nampijinpa Price said her five-year-old niece had been "let down" by the system.

"It just exposes the stark reality of the utter failings of a system that is supposed to protect our most vulnerable, our children," she told the ABC.

"My niece was let down and I know so many other children who have been let down over the years and it's finally been revealed as to why this is the case and it's just not good enough."

Five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby went missing from the Old Timers town camp earlier this year. (Supplied: NT Police)

The report by former NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb and longtime NT public servant Greg Shanahan found there were extensive failings by the Department of Children and Families before Kumanjayi went missing from an Alice Springs town camp in April, making 45 recommendations.

Jefferson Lewis, 47, was charged with the five-year-old girl's murder in May following a five-day manhunt.

He is yet to enter a plea and will return to the Alice Springs Local Court in December.

Ms Price said the report showed a domestic violence risk assessment had not been carried out for her niece and those who had been noted as "safety people were not safe individuals at all".

Angus Taylor and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price were among those to visit the memorial for Kumanjayi Little Baby in Alice Springs earlier this year. (Supplied: Country Liberal Party)

"The continued notifications, the lack of process … words sort of escape me as to how much failure existed, which ended up in the situation where I lost my niece," she said.

She also criticised the child protection response of some organisations, who she said had an "ideological approach" to Indigenous affairs "based on this idea that culture is the be all and end all over and above prioritising the safety of vulnerable women and children".

"I think the system treats Aboriginal women and vulnerable children, [it] doesn't treat them like Australian citizens, that's for sure, where their human rights and their safety need to be upheld."

In parliament earlier today when she tabled the review, NT Minister for Child Protection Robyn Cahill attributed the lack of progress in child safety to Labor governments who she said "put so-called progressive beliefs ahead of child safety".

"A child's culture matters but it can never come before safety," she said.

Earlier this year, vigils were held around the country in honour of Kumanjayi Little Baby. (ABC News: Emma Masters)

Ms Cahill labelled the child protection system as being "in crisis" across the country — a sentiment echoed by Ms Price who has called for a coordinated national approach to child protection.

"I think what the Northern Territory has just been through … every state and territory should go through the same process to ensure that child protection is working right around the country, not just for the benefit of Indigenous children, but for the benefit of all children," Ms Price said.

"The culture of child protection needs to change."

Robyn Cahill speaking to media about the report, outside NT parliament this morning. (ABC News: Michael Donnelly)

Ms Price said she hadn't yet had the opportunity to go through the report with Kumanjayi Little Baby's other family members, but that "they've all been really wanting to understand more deeply" what had happened.

Speaking on behalf of the North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service in the Northern Territory, Cindy Torrens criticised Country Liberal Party (CLP) for not involving Indigenous people when it commissioned the report.

She said the NT government's earlier response to criticisms of the department resulted in "an immediate weakening of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child placement principle in the Northern Territory", which she said "had devastating impacts on our people".

Cindy Torrens says Indigenous people should be included in decisions that will impact them. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)

"If there is any changes to be made in Northern Territory legislation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people [and] Aboriginal community controlled organisations must be at that table," she said.

She accused the CLP of "doing everything to move Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to the fringes", saying government decisions made since the death of Kumanjayi Little Baby were essentially pushing First Nations people "out of sight and out of mind". 

Ms Torrens said Indigenous people were "really exhausted" by the cumulative toll of racism, with the "demonising" of First Nations Australians setting a dangerous precedent.

"We expect to see that more in the Territory and then we, sadly, should be expecting that to continue to happen across the country," she said. 

"It would be devastating for our first people, and we're terrified in the Northern Territory with how this is going to impact o…