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Marion Scrymgour, thank you for joining Stateline. Kumunjayi little baby's death has put living conditions at Aboriginal town camps in Alice Springs in the national spotlight. In fact, we've seen images from the town camp go all across the world. Is enough being done to keep people safe in town camps? And what would you like to see change? People are sick of living in conditions like this. Often, you know, it's portrayed that this is what Aboriginal people have they want to live. That's not how Aboriginal people want to live. And people in town camps have been saying for some time, our situation needs to change, and we need to work with them and with governments to make sure that we can change that.
The girl and her mother, uh, they weren't residents of the town camp. They were visiting that night. Has this event exposed something that's deeper than just town camps alone? The mother had was forced to come and live in Alice Springs because the specialist services that little one needed, uh, wasn't available in her remote community. And that's we need to look at the bigger picture here, Eleni. You know, it's not just services in town camps and in Alice Springs, it's also our remote communities. We're going to see more and more of the drift coming into places like Alice Springs because of the failure of, you know, governments
on all levels, uh, providing those specialist services that these little ones need. It's not about a lack of money, is it? And it's also not about a lack of indigenous representation in politics. Where are we going wrong? You can't blame Aboriginal people if you're not going to give them the opportunity to be able to work through some of these solutions, Eleni. I think it needs governments, uh, to bring Aboriginal people and let them sit at the same table and to work through. Aboriginal people, including organizations like Tang and Gear. Everybody needs to work through, be open to change because we can't allow the status quo to continue. The Northern Territory government at the moment are
the ones responsible for housing in town camps, and we need to work through that with the Northern Territory government. It's not about blaming them, but it is saying, "You are in this space. You are, you know, responsible for housing. So, let's all work together to try and change this." The Northern Territory government has introduced changes to child protection legislation that have been in the works for about a year now, and it's also promising an external departmental review of the circumstances specifically leading up to the girl's death. Are we missing an opportunity here to look at child protection more broadly in the territory?
I think so. I think we've got to have a look at, um, you know, there's been many coronials and many reviews out of those coronials over many years, Eleni. And it's interesting that we have a coronial, we have the recommendations, and then government goes silent. So, I remember being the Minister for child protection in the Northern Territory. We've got to not tinker at the round the edges here and be fair to income about resourcing, uh, you know, making sure that we've got the workers at the coal face. But let's stop the, you know, these little ones falling over a cliff and their families. If you look in Aboriginal communities, just like most places, Eleni, you know, we don't have the same level of
grandmothers and grandfathers that can work with those young mums. We're seeing younger mums. So, what's that support, uh, that needs to be put in place to assist those young mums to look after their children? You're hearing from people in our most disadvantaged communities all the time. What hope should they have that things will improve? Look, I think we've just got to keep hoping that things will change, Eleni, but change will only come when uh we can have open, honest discussions uh not only within government but also within communities. I think we've got to
be able to confront what the real issues are uh that's confronting our communities. I mean, when we look at some of our town camps and we look at some of the housing, uh it's not okay for our young people to be living in circumstances like that. And I think that little girl showed all of us that we need to do better and we have to do better because another child should not fall through the gaps like what's happened here with Kumanjayi little baby. Merriji Scrimgeour, thank you for joining us at line. Thank you, Eleni.
