Senator Lidia Thorpe has condemned new Northern Territory legislation weakening the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle, saying the principle is already not followed in the NT, and the move will further harm First Nations children and families.

The latest data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that only 17.5% of First Nations children in the NT who are removed are placed with First Nations relatives or kin in line with the principle, the lowest rate of adherence to the principle in the country. 

Thorpe says this shows that the NT government is not hamstrung by the placement principle as they are suggesting, but are in fact ignoring it in the vast majority of cases. 

The legislation was introduced despite calls from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Commissioner and the Northern Territory Children’s Commissioner for the laws to be paused until a full inquiry into the child protection system is completed.

Thorpe says the Commonwealth has power under Section 122 of the Constitution to override Territory legislation, which has been used before to repeal euthanasia laws, and that the Commonwealth must act to stop this legislation.

Quotes attributable to Lidia Thorpe, Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent Victorian Senator:

‘The latest data shows only 17.5 per cent of First Nations children removed in the NT are being placed with First Nations families in line with this important principle. 

The NT government is already failing to uphold this principle, which is supposed to keep our children connected to kin, culture and Country.

And a child’s safety is already a core factor in placement decisions.

The suggestion that the NT government is somehow hamstrung by this principle is completely false. In fact, they are ignoring it already. 

This legislation is not about child safety, it is about weakening protections for Aboriginal children and giving governments more power to remove our kids from our community. It is about assimilation.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle came from the Bringing Them Home report because generations of our children were taken from family, culture and Country.

We have two Aboriginal women with deep expertise in child wellbeing offering to lead an inquiry into a system harming our children, and instead the NT government has handed the job to an ex-police officer.

That tells you exactly whose voices this government values, and whose voices are ignored. It is setting our people up for more damaging, punitive responses, which we have seen so much of under this CLP government.

The Commonwealth cannot stand by while discriminatory laws targeting First People escalate in the Northern Territory.

The Commonwealth has overridden NT laws before when it suited them politically, like with euthanasia laws. They have the constitutional power to do so.

We are hearing renewed calls for interventions against Aboriginal communities, but I say it's time for an intervention against the NT government.

Because if the NT government is not reigned in, all we will get is another stolen generation lost to the system.