Indigenous Senator Defends Opposition’s Comments on Widespread Child Abuse in Alice Springs

Liberal Senator Kerrynne Liddle makes her first speech in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra on Sept. 7, 2022. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Indigenous Senator Kerrynne Liddle has defended comments from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton who said a contentious proposal to change Australia’s Constitution would do little to address crime rates in Aboriginal communities like Alice Springs.

Speaking on ABC Radio National on April 14, Liddle said while care was needed to avoid politicising the issue, statistics on widespread child sexual abuse in central Australia revealed a startling truth.

The data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) showed 95.5 children per 1,000 in the Northern Territory were the subject of an investigation by child protection services in 2020-21, reported Sky News Australia.

“I say prove it’s not happening and then we can have a conversation about the kind of language we can actually use for this,” Liddle said.

“You’ve got the statistics, which everyone accepts are underreported and underrepresented.”

However, the Northern Territory Labor government denied allegations of widespread child abuse.

At the same time, Northern Territory federal senator and assistant minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, warned Dutton against using the crime rates in Alice Springs as a “political football.”

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health Senator Malarndirri McCarthy announce new renal dialysis units for remote First Nations patients, Darwin, NT on April 13, 2022. AAP Image/Annette Lin

“It is a very serious allegation to raise the abuse of a child, and a serious allegation to make that a child is being returned to an abuser,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said Dutton was required by law to report child abuse if he had evidence of widespread abuse.

Indigenous Minister Linda Burney backed the assistant minister.

“The statistics are heading in the right direction in Alice Springs. There has been a reduction in presentations to the emergency ward, and substantial reductions in call-outs for domestic violence,” Burney said.

“Dramatic changes which have not been reflected, unfortunately, by the use of Alice Springs as a political football that we are seeing right now.”

Sometime this year, Australians will go to the polls in a national referendum on whether to embed a 24-member advisory body into the Constitution that can make “representations” to Parliament on matters affecting Indigenous peoples.

Dutton’s Contentious Comments

Dutton made the comments during a campaign against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament with Senator Jacinta Price in Alice Springs on April 13.

“You have kids here tonight who are going to be sexually abused or families where domestic violence has now become an occurrence all the time and we are told nothing can be done about it. I find it deplorable,” Dutton said.

When pressed by a reporter from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Dutton said, “They have kids taking them back into homes where they have been sexually assaulted and six-year-olds grabbing onto their legs, screaming not to be left there.”

“They’re the people who are on the front line. I don’t know what the academics are saying, I don’t know what the bureaucrats are saying, I can tell you though what the human experience is on the frontline, and if the ABC don’t see fit to report that then frankly I think it reflects more on the ABC than it does on the locals here.”

Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on April 5, 2023. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Dutton also called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to intervene in tackling crime rates in Alice Springs.

Meanwhile, Senator Price said that adding another layer of bureaucracy to the government—as a result of a successful “yes” vote—would not resolve the issue.

Price also told Sky News host Paul Murray that it was “unfathomable” people would attempt to cover up the exploitation of Aboriginal children.

Country Liberal Party senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and 22 Indigenous community leaders at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on March 22, 2023. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Price said Dutton should be praised for raising the issue and has instead accused Labor of “politicising this issue.”

“I can guarantee you I am fielding calls. I am having conversations with people who know what’s going on, there are frontline workers who can’t talk about what’s going on,” she said.

However, in a statement, the head of an advocacy group for Indigenous children, SNAICC, said Dutton’s claims were not supported by evidence.

“The claims of ‘rampant’ abuse fly in the face of evidence. Data from Territory Families show there has been no escalation in investigations of sexual abuse or exploitation,” Catherine Liddle said.

“SNAICC invites Mr. Dutton and Senator Price to meet with SNAICC and community members for a considered, evidence-based discussion of the issue of child sexual abuse and the over-representation of Aboriginal children in the child protection system.

“Despite an invitation last year, they have never approached SNAICC for more information or to hear about community-led solutions.”

Crime Rates in the Northern Territory

Meanwhile, crime rates have jumped for Alice Springs, with assaults and domestic violence rates rising by 38.01 percent and 47.22 percent, respectively.

Home and commercial property break-ins have risen 25.75 percent and 55.97 percent. Motor vehicle theft has also risen 39.88 percent.

In November 2022, Northern Territory Police established Operation Drina to deal with anti-social behaviour and associated crime.

In January, Alice Springs community residents announced that they were preparing to sue the Northern Territory government for $1.5 billion (US$1.1 billion) in compensation in response to the damage caused by the youth crime wave.

Federal Labor MP Marion Scrymgour, who represents the seat of Lingiari taking the Northern Territory, called on NT Police Commissioner Kate Worden to focus on her department’s work in Alice Springs.

“I think Kate Worden needs to look at her department and herself ... and to deal with this issue ... because there are way too many young people doing illegal things around Alice Springs and stealing cars and setting them on fire,” she told ABC Radio.

Victoria Kelly-Clark contributed to this report.