Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Price struggled to hold back tears while accusing authorities of failing to protect Kumanjayi Little Baby in the weeks leading up to her tragic death.
Warnings Ignored in Alice Springs Tragedy
The senator highlighted how avoiding tough discussions on the living conditions of Indigenous children in town camps continues to claim lives. Jefferson Lewis, 47, faces murder charges and additional offenses after the young girl was discovered deceased in bushland near Alice Springs on April 30.
Recent disclosures show six child protection reports filed about Kumanjayi in the six weeks prior to her death. These reports detailed a dangerous living environment, neglect, and exposure to domestic violence.
Price Demands Accountability in Senate Speech
Senator Price emphasized that the inaction on these multiple warnings should shock observers everywhere. “The fact that multiple warnings were not acted upon should horrify every single one of us in this chamber and across the world,” she stated during an emotional Senate address on Tuesday.
“For years, I have raised concerns about the failures within child protection,” she continued, voice breaking. “I’ve spoken to foster carers who’ve raised loved ones, Aboriginal children from infancy, who’ve seen them placed back into dangerous and dysfunctional circumstances.”
She recounted conversations with police officers, social workers, paediatricians, and frontline workers who witness children enduring repeated trauma in a system designed to safeguard them. “Every time these concerns are raised, those who attempt to shut down the conversation say, ‘Now is not the time’ or ‘We should not politicise tragedy,'” Price noted.
The senator affirmed her duty as a parliamentarian: “I have an obligation to fight for justice in her honour… I have an obligation to fight for change so fewer families endure what my family is enduring right now. Condolences become empty when they are accompanied by excuses for inaction.”
