Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the image of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of her family.

Northern Territory Child Protection Minister Robyn Cahill says three child protection workers have been stood down following an investigation into the circumstances of Kumanjayi Little Baby before her alleged murder last month.

The five-year-old girl’s body was found near the Old Timers / Ilyperenye town camp in Alice Springs last week and 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis was charged with her murder on Sunday.

At a press conference in Darwin this afternoon, Ms Cahill said she had “reached out to the department to identify if there was any areas of concern” with regard to the the girl now referred to as Kumanjayi at the request of her family.

“I was basically told that things were not a situation of concern,” she said.

“I then requested a full brief and I can’t go into the detail of what was in that brief, but suffice it to say that we had to investigate how those processes had been executed.

“As a result of the initial investigation that had occurred, there’s been three staff that have been stood down from the roles that they were occupying.

“That wasn’t my decision; that was a decision of the department.”

Ms Cahill said she “can’t talk about the specifics” of how Kumanjayi came to the attention of the department.

The ABC is not suggesting wrongdoing on the part of the five-year-old’s family.

Ms Cahill said that while the investigation involving Kumanjayi Little Baby was being undertaken by the department, she had “indicated that I think we need a much broader, independent investigation into the structure of the department”.

“That is on the back of the work that I’ve been undertaking with my team and with the assistance of some members of the department over the last 12 months,” she said.

“And the repeated situations I’ve come across that indicate that there are so many children who have had repeated notifications made, where zero action is taken for a number of years, and those children subsequently have ended up in the criminal justice system.

“It’s been me trying to understand how that could possibly happen when the absolute most critical thing must be the safety and wellbeing of the child.”

Ms Cahill said child protection in the NT had been “under a lot of pressure” for “a very long time” without significant change.

“There’s been some 30 inquiries since the late 1980s into child protection across the country and yet we still continue to see these really poor outcomes for these kids,” she said.

“So I made it very clear when I came into these portfolios, particularly around domestic violence, we couldn’t keep doing things the same way, we needed to do things differently.

“And now is absolutely the time to look at how we can do things differently, because we’re not going to be able to deliver better outcomes for children unless we shift our focus.”

Ms Cahill said there would “likely be a restructure of how the department operates” with an announcement to be made “in due course”.

Minister urged to investigate ‘leaks’

Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care chief executive Catherine Liddle welcomed Ms Cahill, “asking questions about the actions of workers in her department”.

But Ms Liddle also urged the minister to investigate “the leaking of information”, which she said, “only served to demonise a mother trying to keep herself and her children safe”.

In a statement, Ms Liddle said she was “horrified” to read reports in “national media” containing information about Kumanjayi’s family, which she said was confidential.

“In the Northern Territory, exposure to family violence is a mandatory child protection report,” she said.

“This does not necessarily mean a child is at risk and should be removed from family.

“Notifications do not mean substantiation.”

Ms Liddle said the leaking “also erodes trust in the very system that is meant to keep our children safe”.

“I don’t know which NT agency is responsible for the leaks, but the details leaked to media would narrow it down as to who has access to this information,” she said.

“This was a child who was very loved and her family are shattered at her loss.”

Ms Cahill’s office has been contacted for comment.

MP says Stolen Generation ‘conjecture’ should stop

Labor member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour — who is also a former NT Child Protection Minister — said if there were credible reports that Kumanjayi was at risk, “the department should have acted”.

“We need to stop thinking that these little ones can stay in the same at-risk environment,” she said.

“We’re seeing young kids — whether they’re Aboriginal or not Aboriginal — who are vulnerable and at risk in the Northern Territory fall through the gaps, and we’ve seen it for many years.

“Sometimes internally in the department there is too much conjecture and discussion about the Stolen Generation and I think that needs to stop.”

Ms Scrymgour said multiple reviews had already outlined reforms needed to strengthen the system, but multiple governments had failed to implement their recommendations.

“There are systematic failures that are happening in the Northern Territory and we need to deal with them,” she said.