A report into the Northern Territory’s child protection sector has revealed “confronting” and “heartbreaking” failures leading up to the alleged murder of Kumanjayi Little Baby, a five-year-old Warlpiri girl found dead in April. This tragic event occurred just five days after she was allegedly abducted from a town camp in Alice Springs.

Background

Jefferson Lewis, a 47-year-old man with no familial ties to Kumanjayi, has been charged with her murder and is currently remanded in custody, awaiting to enter a plea. The report was tabled in the Northern Territory Parliament by the Minister for Children and Families, Robyn Cahill, on Tuesday. The independent review was commissioned by the NT government and conducted by former New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb and senior public servant Greg Shanahan.

Key Findings

Cahill highlighted a “recurrent pattern” in the collaboration between police and the department that allowed children to be placed in the care of adults without proper criminal background checks. She stated:

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“There were serious gaps between what the law required of the department, and how the law was applied. Gaps in policy, in process, and most critically, gaps in how risk to children was being assessed.”