Locals appeal NT child protection law change

Indigenous leaders in the Northern Territory’s Arnhem Land have called on the new Territory government not to water down child protection laws that require for courts to place children with indigenous families.

Recent documents have revealed the NT government could be planning to change the law, so courts would only have to adhere to the principle of the law.

This could mean children might be placed with non-Indigenous families.

“We would be really concerned that they would lose their language, their culture, their identity,” East Arnhem Land Yolŋu community leader Nadyezhda Dilipuma Pozzana told the ABC.

The Mikan East Arnhem Land Territory Families Reference Group is now calling for more consultation before any changes are made.

“There’s already just too many children being taken away from home,” Independent member for Mulka in East Arnhem Land, Yingiya Guyula said.

Child Protection Minister Robyn Cahill told the ABC the law change was needed because requiring the placement of Aboriginal children in their communities could cause harm.

“The only thing that we’re looking [at] in that particular section is, where there’s an issue where potentially applying those principles in an absolute, explicit way, there is a risk that harm could be caused to the child or an adult attached to the child,” she said.