An urgent complaint has been lodged with the United Nations in relation to the Northern Territory's introduction of the Care and Protection of Children (Every Child Matters) Act 2026.
William Pengarte Tilmouth, Arrernte Elder, Stolen Generations survivor and winner of the Australian Human Rights Commission Human Rights medal, and Maithili Mishra, a lawyer and Masters of International Human Rights Law candidate at the University of Oxford, lodged the complaint.
It argues recent Northern Territory child protection legislation amendments, introduced in the wake of the passing of Kumanjayi Little Baby in May this year, dilute the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Principle and "accelerate timelines for permanent removal of Aboriginal children from their families", in breach of Australia's International Human Rights Law obligations, including under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
On Tuesday, Mr Tilmouth said the Territory is "witnessing the legislative resurrection of the Stolen Generations".
"The Northern Territory Government is systematically dismantling the protections meant to keep our children connected to culture, kinship and Country," he said.
"This legislation is a purposeful repetition of the historical gaslighting myself and my brother, Tracker Tilmouth, along with the other members of the Stolen Generations, experienced as children, and is rooted in and perpetuating a false narrative that Aboriginal people do not know how to look after their children."
Ms Mishra said the new legislation is not only non-compliant with Australia's International Human Rights Law obligations under various covenants, but also "a textbook case" of legislative abuse of power.
"By politicising Kumanjayi Baby's tragic death, the NT Government has used 'child safety' as a pretext to pass laws that disproportionately harm Aboriginal families and to perpetuate a false and dangerous narrative that culture is getting in the way of safety," she said.
"There was no inherent issue with the ATSI Child Protection Principle or cultural protections under the previous child protection legislation. This is clearly demonstrated by the findings of the Webb-Shanahan independent review of the Northern Territory child protection system, which has found no fault with the predecessor legislation itself, but rather identified critical failures in the Department of Child Protection's response to risk."
NT Minister for Children and Families Robyn Cahill recently attributed a lack of progress in child protection in the Territory, including three reports and 300 recommendations over 30 years, to Labor governments that she argued "put so-called progressive beliefs ahead of child safety".
"A child's culture matters but it can never come before safety," she said late last month.
With additional reporting by Dechlan Brennan
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