Former NSW top cop Karen Webb to lead NT child protection probe after Kumanjayi Little Baby’s alleged murder

Former NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb will lead an independent investigation into the Northern Territory Department of Children and Families following the alleged murder of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby.

On Wednesday morning, the NT Government announced sweeping reforms to the Territory’s child protection laws, alongside the announcement that Ms Webb and former CEO of the NT Department of Attorney-General and Justice, Greg Shanahan, will oversee an external investigation into the child protection department’s handling of Kumanjayi Little Baby’s case.

Ms Webb has more than three decades of experience in criminal investigations, including work in child protection and domestic violence and Mr Shanahan, a senior NT public servant, has more than 25 years’ experience in the public sector.

Their investigation, which has a three-month deadline, will begin next week.

Kumanjayi Little Baby, as she is now referred to for cultural reasons, was allegedly abducted from a town camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs on April 25. The little girl’s body was found near the dry Todd River bed five days later.

Jefferson Lewis, 47, has been charged with her murder and other offences which cannot be published for legal reasons.

The investigation comes after revelations that six notifications about the little girl’s welfare had allegedly been made to the Department of Children and Families in the six weeks before her death.

NT Child Protection Minister Robyn Cahill said the government was also amending the Care and Protection of Children Act to place child safety at the centre of the Territory’s child protection framework.

Under the reforms, a new “Universal Principle” will, for the first time, make child safety the primary consideration regardless of a child’s background.

The amendments will also include additional requirements relating to Aboriginal children, conditional upon that overarching safety principle being met.

Short-term protection orders will be capped at two years, children will be guaranteed access to independent legal representation and the department will be required to take “active, practical steps” to reunify children with families within tighter time frames.

Family Responsibility Agreements will also be strengthened, with court-enforced measures aimed at improving parental accountability.

Ms Cahill said the reforms were designed to reduce instability for vulnerable children and prioritise safety.

“The ongoing cycle of harm, risk and uncertainty needs to be addressed and the only way to achieve that is to put the basic human rights of a child’s safety before anything else,” she said.

“Under these amendments there will be more consistent support and better outcomes for both children and their families.

“Every child matters regardless of where they come from, their race or religion, I am not prepared to turn a blind eye and abandon another generation of families and children.”

Ms Cahill said the legislation would create a framework for “early but reasonable intervention”.

“Where it is safe to do so we want children with their families, but where it is not, we will act decisively to give children the permanency, stability and care they deserve,” she said.

The government said children involved with child protection services were at least nine times more likely to enter the youth justice system, citing 2019 Australian Institute of Criminology data.

“Early intervention breaks that cycle,” Ms Cahill said.

More to come...