A government is considering ways of removing at-risk Aboriginal children from families following a coronial inquest into domestic violence.
Territory Families chief executive Emma White has been directed to “amend and divert” child protection practices, the NT domestic, family and sexual violence minister says.
“All that really matters, is taking those kids into an environment that is safe, working with their families, so that they understand they have a responsibility to look after those children and, if they can't, then we will have to look at alternatives,” Robyn Cahill told reporters.
“I have no issue being criticised for doing my job, which will be to look after the children, make sure they're safe and happy and healthy, whatever it takes.”
NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage handed down her findings after investigating the brutal killings of Kumanjayi Haywood, Ngeygo Ragurrk, Miss Yunupingu and Kumarn Rubuntja by their partners.
Ms Armitage commended the territory child protection’s system for working with domestic and family violence survivors to break the cycle of abuse.
“The legacy of the Stolen Generation continues to impact the lives of Aboriginal families,” she said.
“The reality is that Aboriginal children are 10.5 times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be in out-of-home care.”
The coroner said evidence showed a shift in policy that ensured victims with children were supported, rather than defaulting to remove children from the home.
Nine Aboriginal women have been killed in domestic violence incidents in the NT since June, prompting Ms Armitage to recommend the government release $180 million to specialist sevices “without delay”.
But Ms Cahill said the government first needed to complete an audit of the territory's domestic and family violence prevention plan to assess where funding was best placed.
Federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister Senator Malarndirri McCarthy said the government had provided the NT with $180 million for the domestic violence service.
She called for the money to be spent urgently in accordance with the recommendations.
When asked when the funding was provided or under what agreement, Senator McCarthy referred AAP to the office of Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth.
Liberal Senator Jacinta Price who told ABC funding needed to be invested in specialist services.
“I think there's one thing where you can throw money at a situation, it's another to ensure that you're investing it where it's going to provide the best outcomes,” she said.
“I have faith in the country Liberal Party government to be able to deliver on these recommendations.”
Indigenous women are being murdered at seven times the national average, mostly at the hands of intimate partners, research from the Australian Institute of Criminology shows.
Over more than three decades 455 women were killed by men nationwide. In the Northern Territory 86 women have been killed since 2000.
But Australian National University domestic violence researcher Chay Brown said counts and data were problematic.
"We don’t have a real time figure, we can't address a problem we don't fully understand," Dr Brown said.
"Definitions matter in term of data ... what we need is a real-time national count, not unlike the real-time Aboriginal deaths in custody one."
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