Following her death, media reports revealed the girl had been subject to child protection notifications in the past, triggering a flurry of government announcements around the Northern Territory’s child protection system.<\/p>\n
They included the NT Department of Children and Families standing down three staff members<\/a> within days of the girl’s death and the NT government announcing an external review into how her case was handled<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mourners dressed in pink and gathered at vigils held across the country to honour the life of Kumanjayi Little Baby. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n Sarah (not her real name), a former senior child protection worker in Alice Springs, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of professional repercussions, said she had been “shocked” at the announcement of the three staff members being stood down.<\/p>\n “The three that were supposedly stood down from their positions are all excellent and very dedicated workers,” she said.<\/p>\n NT Child Protection Minister Robyn Cahill and the department have declined to answer questions about why the staff members were stood down, however Ms Cahill has previously said there were “failings” in Kumanjayi Little Baby’s case that needed to be addressed.<\/p>\n Robyn Cahill last week introduced new child protection legislation into NT parliament. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n Sarah said “making an example” of individual workers would fail to address broader weaknesses and gaps in the NT’s child protection system.<\/p>\n “Housing, corrections, domestic and family violence, education, employment, health and community services all bleed into the complexity of these situations and the lives of the families and children we work with,” she said.<\/p>\n “Standing down three workers changes nothing if the underlying systems remain the same and everyone points fingers at individuals who have no power to change the system they work in.”<\/p>\n The body of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby was found in late April, after a five-day search. (Supplied: NT Police)<\/p>\n Child protection not about ‘money or accolades’\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to the review into Kumanjayi Little Baby’s case, the NT government last week introduced new child protection legislation into parliament, which it says will prioritise safety “above all other considerations”.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ms Cahill has repeatedly said children’s safety is not a priority under the current child protection legislation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Proposed child protection changes explained<\/a><\/p>\n Here’s what you need to know about the proposed changes to the NT child protection legislation, introduced into parliament this week.<\/p>\n However, Sarah said safety was at the core of child protection work.<\/p>\n “You don’t kind of get into child protection because it’s an easy job or for any reason like money or accolades or things like that,” she said.<\/p>\n “It’s really about the safety of children.”<\/p>\n Sarah said “huge” workloads were an ongoing challenge for the sector, with NT child protection workers sometimes forced to juggle up to 60 cases at a time.<\/p>\n “There’s a lot of complexities as well to the cases,” she said.<\/p>\n “It could be police, it could be addictions, it could be any number of areas of people’s lives that we would have to take into consideration in terms of reactions and even locating those people to get information.”<\/p>\n Sarah says child protection workers in the NT can be responding to up to 60 cases at any one time. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n Claims of second Stolen Generation fears labelled ‘rubbish’ and ‘untrue’<\/p>\n The centrepiece of the proposed legislative changes is a “universal principle”, where “safety” is listed as the number one priority<\/a>, which the government says will ensure decisions are made in “the best interests of every child”, “regardless of background”.<\/p>\n Warumungu, Luritja and Yawuru woman Peta-Lee Cole-Manolis worked in senior child protection across the NT and WA for more than a decade, before leaving the department six years ago.<\/p>\n Ms Cole-Manolis, who is also a kinship carer in Alice Springs, said it was “only a matter of time” before the child protection system faced scrutiny, but expressed concern about how the planned changes had been framed.<\/p>\n “[The government] sounded these laws out a bit before the recent tragedy at Old Timer’s [town camp] with Kumanjayi Little Baby, so I know that’s been something they’ve been pushing,” she said.<\/p>\n “I really feel like they’ve politicised that moment.”<\/p>\n Peta-Lee Cole-Manolis has worked in senior child protection roles across the Northern Territory and Western Australia. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)<\/p>\n NT Minister for Child Protection Robyn Cahill rejected those concerns, saying the changes had been a “very long time in the making” and had involved “over a year of work”, including consultation with people “on the ground”.<\/p>\n Ms Manolis said the amendments would only perpetuate stereotypes against Aboriginal people.<\/p>\n “It almost suggests that Aboriginal people can’t be safe carers,” she said.<\/p>\n “Once again [the government] wants to separate themselves from everyone else and do something that’s just more harmful and shows they have not learned anything from every inquiry ever done about Aboriginal people.”<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/adc52ec6b6782a60b0365138d7654ed6.jpeg\")
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