Government responses inadequate two months on from Kumanjayi Little Baby

Alice Springs community leaders are calling for an audit into where funding for important Aboriginal programs is going. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy) Community leaders in Alice Springs want an audit to determine why federal and territory government spending does not seem to be improving Indigenous living conditions and safety. Many are also calling for child protection and family support services to be better resourced, instead of the law changes the NT Government is progressing. The NT government says it will not commit extra funding to child protection services until it has finished reviewing how the department handled reports about Kumanjayi Little Baby. Link copiedShareShare articleAlice Springs community leaders still devastated by the alleged abduction and murder of Kumanjayi Little Baby in April are warning that both the Northern Territory and federal governments are still not making enough improvements in services that could help prevent similar cases. Note: 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 their family. They are calling for better resourced child protection services and better targeting of government money intended to make life safer for families in town camps and surrounding remote communities. Independent NT MP Robyn Lambley, who helped in the massive search for the child, said eight weeks on neither the NT nor federal government responses have been adequate. "The town is still trying to recover and to make sense of what has happened; we're looking for hope and direction from our leaders, we're looking at changes that might stop this thing from happening again," she said. Robyn Lambley was among the local volunteers who joined the search party following the five-year-old girl's disappearance. (ABC News) The NT Police said Kumanjayi Little Baby's mother was visiting Alice Springs from her remote community when she put her daughter to bed at a town camp house, where people were drinking, before the child went missing. Mrs Lambley called for an audit of federal and NT government spending, including the $4 billion being poured into upgrading Indigenous housing, saying living conditions and safety in town camps did not appear to have improved. "People more and more want accountability, and particularly in the Aboriginal welfare space and housing space — where is the money going?" she asked. Conditions in town camps in Alice Springs are under intense scrutiny, but the residents are caught in a tangled web of bureaucracy with little transparency on the money being spent and who exactly is responsible for what. Mrs Lambley said dozens of new houses in town camps had been built in in recent years — jointly funded by the Commonwealth and built by the former NT Labor government — but overcrowding was still contributing to unsafe conditions. "We're told, through what happened to Kumanjayi Little Baby, that that's still an enormous problem, nothing has changed, apparently," she said. "We also know the massive pressure these people are under, the lack of security, the people wandering in and out, making themselves at home, and using and abusing town camp resources." Her calls echoed those of federal Coalition leaders Angus Taylor and Kumanjayi Little Baby's aunt Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who have been advocating for an audit of government funding after visiting the child's family last week. Angus Taylor and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price visited the memorial for Kumanjayi Little Baby in Alice Springs last week. (Supplied: Country Liberal Party) Federal Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy has rejected the audit calls, saying government funding is already regularly audited. Ms McCarthy said the Albanese Government's key response — its continued rollout of $250 million in federal funds allocated three years ago to tackle crime, dysfunction and poverty in Alice Springs — is hitting the mark. "We've made significant investments in the areas of family and community safety, in terms of infrastructure, especially in education, we're supporting community safety through youth engagement and diversion programs," she said. Malarndirri McCarthy was among the Darwin locals who gathered on the lawns of Parliament House for a vigil in May. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy) Despite the federal minister's statements, Graeme Smith, an Alice Springs Arrernte native title holder and governance officer at Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation, said a lot of government funding is not making an impact. Mr Smith said years of underinvestment in remote community housing and health was pushing people to crowd unsafely into Alice Springs town camps, although he acknowledged the federal and NT governments had recently opened more temporary visitor accommodation in the town. Graeme Smith wants the NT and federal governments to increase remote community services funding. (Supplied: G

Government responses inadequate two months on from Kumanjayi Little Baby

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