Overview
- Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who led moving tributes in the Senate on Tuesday, blamed a culture of silence and systemic child protection failures for the death of her five-year-old niece, Kumanjayi Little Baby.
- The Northern Territory government ordered an independent review of its child protection system and confirmed three staff have been stood down, with full terms of reference due next week.
- NT Children's Commissioner Shahleena Musk, backed by National Commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter, called for a board of inquiry with royal commission–style powers to examine housing, family violence, policing and the justice system.
- The commissioners urged an immediate pause to planned changes to the Aboriginal child placement principle, warning that rushed laws could repeat past harms; the principle prioritises kin or Aboriginal carers when a child is removed.
- Jefferson Lewis, 47, is charged with murder and remains in custody in Darwin after unrest in Alice Springs, while the family has asked politicians to avoid using the child's death for point‑scoring.