The Northern Territory government has been urged to pause a child safety bill, introduced in the wake of an Indigenous girl's death, after sparking fears it will repeat structural failures that led to the tragedy.
NT Children's Commissioner Shahleena Musk resigned amid uproar over a scrutiny committee this week green-lighting the bill, which First Nations, health, legal and human rights groups oppose.
The proposed new laws have been slammed for placing less emphasis on maintaining cultural connection and potentially making it easier for Aboriginal kids to be permanently placed with non-Indigenous carers.A child's ethnic or cultural background will not be a valid reason to leave them in an unsafe situation under the bill, which rates a youth's safety as the highest priority when considering removing them from their family.
Ms Musk said she would officially step down on Thursday after the scrutiny committee recommended passing the bill following 150 submissions.
"I have been concerned by the effective sidelining of myself as the children's commissioner in the development of these reforms," she said in a statement.
Ms Musk said she was "increasingly concerned by trends that suggested a reduced commitment to transparency, accountability and evidence-based decision-making" in the territory.
NT Child Protection Minister Robyn Cahill rejected the claims, saying if Ms Musk was genuinely concerned about the issue, "then the last thing she would be doing is walking away".
"The committee received 150 submissions. That is consultation, and that is transparency," she said in a statement.
"The commissioner is one voice ... she is not the only person entitled to be heard.
"If a person in a role like this will not put children's safety ahead of everything else, then it is right that they move on."
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's National Commissioner took aim at the NT government following Ms Musk's resignation.
"The fact that we have a commissioner for Aboriginal children stepping down from a role due to actions of the current NT government shows first-hand the lack of care and accountability they have towards our people," Sue-Anne Hunter said.
"Our governments are failing us; this is evident now more than ever in the NT."
She urged the NT government to pause the bill in its current form as it "risks repeating structural failures that led to the tragic loss of a child".
The NT government had been adamant the bill - introduced after the death of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby in Alice Springs - would make children safer and offer stability for youths removed from their families.
The NT's Foster and Kinship Carers Association, NT Police Association, the Australian Christian Lobby and Liberal Party senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price support the changes.
However, the majority of the 150 submissions reportedly opposed the bill.
Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care was disappointed by the scrutiny committee's decision but claimed it was a "political exercise from the get-go".
"This recommendation flies in the face of everything we've learned over generations," chief executive Catherine Liddle said.
"Time and again, inquiries have found that unnecessarily separating children from their families and culture causes lifelong harm."
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