Senator’s call on Top End children

The Northern Territory senator doubled down on her opposition to the Voice to parliament on Sunday where she claimed foster parents had voiced “grave concerns” in discussions with her.

She told ABC Insiders the allegations concerned the department responsible for caring for children in the Top End.

Senator Price said she had “no reason” to believe they were not real as she had heard them “over and over”.

“I’m talking about foster carers who are also Indigenous, who have come to me with these grave concerns,” she said.

“So, this is why we need a royal commission into the sexual abuse of Indigenous children.”

NT Police Minister Kate Wordon is expected to address the allegations made against Territory Families in a press conference on Sunday afternoon.

The Country Liberal senator and former Alice Springs deputy mayor is speculated to be a frontrunner to be appointed to the frontbench to replace Julian Leeser, who quit in order to support the Voice referendum.

Senator Nampijinpa Price is a longtime opponent of the referendum, which would enshrine an Indigenous advisory body in the Constitution, claiming the proposal would racially divide Australia.

She said the only referendum she could support was one that put the “lives and responsibilities of children into the federal arena”.

Last week, the peak body representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, rebuked Senator Nampijinpa Price and Liberal leader Peter Dutton for their comments on sexual abuse in Alice Springs.

Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care chief executive Catherine Liddle said there was no evidence to support Mr Dutton’s claims of “rampant” reports of abuse.

“Sexual abuse is a really serious crime, which has a devastating impact on children, families and communities — this is not a political football,” she said in a statement.

“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.“

Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy on Sunday reiterated her call for politicians aware of abuse to report it to authorities.

“My direct question to Peter Dutton … it was simply that as leader please be responsible to report mandatory any sexual abuse that you are aware of that‘s occurring to a child or to a child that returning to an abuser that you know of,” she told Sky News.

“I think we’ve got to be mindful that this is such a serious area. Any abuse of a child anywhere in this country, or around the world, is not on.”