Almost 20 years after the NT intervention, governments are making the same mistakes – and failing Aboriginal children

We have clear evidence that community-controlled family and children’s services are trusted and used. When they are administered by non-Aboriginal bureaucrats, they fail Warning: This article contains references to Indigenous Australians who have died The Northern Territory government’s response to the tragic death of Kumanjayi Little Baby in Alice Springs is deeply alarming. The weight of evidence is unambiguous: supportive services for the health and wellbeing of mothers, carers and children are what best ensure the safety, healthy growth and socialisation of Aboriginal children. Yet the NT government has chosen an inquiry headed by a former police commissioner, with no Aboriginal involvement, and is simultaneously eradicating child protection officers. Widespread criticism of the inquiry’s terms of reference has done nothing to change course. The statistics demand attention. Aboriginal children make up only about 20% of the NT’s child population, yet they represent 90% of children in the child “protection” system and 95% of children detained. As the Uluru statement from the heart puts it plainly, it is not because they are not loved. Too often, media, columnists, lea