The Northern Territory Children's Commissioner, and Aboriginal legal groups, are appealing to the Territory Government to abandon planned changes to child protection laws. The Government is proposing to reduce the requirement for courts to place indigenous children into indigenous care placements, sparking concerns about another Stolen Generation.
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00:00In order to thrive, most Indigenous kids need the familiarity and support of their communities.
00:08The Children's Commissioner says being taken into non-Aboriginal child protection facilities
00:14can be alien and destructive.
00:17That means, can lead to children being disconnected from their family, their community, their
00:22language, losing sense of who they are in the world.
00:25She's concerned the Territory Government plans to enable courts to stop adhering to
00:30the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle.
00:33Under the principle, kids being taken into care should go to extended family or other
00:39community members.
00:41The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle was brought in to
00:44address racist and discriminatory laws that saw thousands of children removed from their
00:50families, community and culture and led to devastating effects.
00:53Leaked documents obtained by the ABC show the government wants to allow judges to use
00:59the placement principle, just where practicable.
01:02We don't want another stolen generation here in 2025 or 2026.
01:07Indigenous legal groups want the plan ditched, or at least more consultation.
01:13Give us adequate time.
01:14They've only given us two days and we just think it's really inadequate and poor on the
01:18part.
01:19The Territory's Child Protection Minister, Robin Cull, declined an interview.
01:24She provided a statement saying the change is to ensure the safety and protection of
01:29all Territorians.
01:31The Children's Commissioner is questioning the apparent conflation of child protection
01:36and crime.
01:37I'm really struggling to understand a causal link between that assertion and these proposed
01:43amendments.
01:44She's calling on the government to invest more in family support, domestic violence
01:49prevention and housing, instead of preparing the ground to remove more kids from their
01:55indigenous communities.