Minister for Indigenous Australians
Subjects: Kumanjayi Little Baby, Alice Springs unrest
KATHRYN ROBINSON, HOST: Let's get more now on how the community in Alice Springs has been impacted by the death of Kumanjayi Little Baby. Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy joins us now from Alice Springs. Good morning to you. Thank you very much for your time.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Good morning, Kathryn.
HOST: Senator, can you describe the hurt and pain the Indigenous community in Alice Springs and indeed across the country right now is feeling?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, I think the hurt and pain is experienced by everyone, Kathryn, not just the Indigenous community. What we've seen here in Alice Springs this past week is everybody come together from all walks of life. And it has been truly beautiful, actually, to have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people come together to try to find this beautiful little girl. And sadly, it ended the way we didn't want it to end. And obviously last night we saw hundreds more take out their anger and frustration over what has happened to this little girl. And today we're trying to just call calm, to really bring everyone together, that we're all hurting.
HOST: Those very confronting images last night of the violence that erupted at Alice Springs. How do you make sense of that? Help those in the community process that? What is your message to that community?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, clearly, that sort of behaviour is not what we want to see anywhere in this country, let alone here in Alice Springs. The work of the police throughout all of this has been tremendous. The work of the Aboriginal Police Liaison Officers, the Aboriginal organisations, the broader business community of Alice Springs, has been terrific. What happened last night is that police had to protect a man in custody who has been now investigated over what has happened to this beautiful little girl. And that process has to take its course. So, he's now been relocated to Darwin in order to keep calm here in the community. And today, Marion Scrymgour and I, the local member here, are spending time with the families, with the Elders. I'll be meeting with the families this morning, but also to make sure that we have sufficient counselling, trauma counselling with Congress Health here, and also in Aboriginal languages in terms of reaching out to all families right across the spectrum.
HOST: A lot of people are asking today, Senator, how this could happen?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: I think we're all asking that question. But right now, we have a mum who needs to bury her baby and we need to really surround her at this point in time and surround her family with our love. And I think we need to stay focused on that first.
HOST: Absolutely. And I'm sure that everyone would be with you in thinking about that, but you would have read, I'm sure, Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's piece in the newspaper today in The Australian saying that despite billions of dollars flowing into Indigenous organisations, land councils, local government structures, the conditions on the ground tell a different story. As Minister for Indigenous Australians, down the track in the ensuing days and weeks, what will you be looking at to change as a result of this tragedy?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, Kathryn, to be honest, I haven't read anything. I've been here with families, consoling them and here with the community and here with the staff at the hospital, with the businesses, that's who I've been with. So, I haven't seen that. I think that there's going to be a time and a place for conversations down the track, but it's not today.
HOST: Can I ask you if that is indeed not for today, and understandably so, as Minister for Indigenous Australians, though, do you expect that something might change as a result of what has happened?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, right now we have a community in absolute trauma, in grief, and we have to get through this first. And that's really my priority today and for the next few days while we do this. And clearly there will be a time for further conversations around other matters, but it isn't for today, Kathryn.
HOST: Okay, I understand. How do you go about bringing calm to the community, Senator, while still supporting the family of Kumanjayi Little Baby?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, we need to make sure that the social and emotional wellbeing programs that we have are up in place in different languages, not just Warlpiri languages, but also the other languages here in Central Australia. We also have families as far as Wave Hill, the Gurindji people, who need to be looked after because they're directly impacted here, even though they're not physically in this location. This little girl is part of their families too, and my heart goes out to them, and I've been speaking to those families in Kalkarindji as well, conscious that they are really hurting too. So, we are trying to make sure through the National Indigenous Australians Agency, that these programs of counselling are going out also through Congress, the Aboriginal community-controlled health organisation here in Central Australia, to ensure that all of those appropriate services are out there. And also with 13 Yarn that that is there in terms of phone counselling. But it's not just Aboriginal people, as I said from the outset, this has impacted the whole community and this counselling service is for everyone, Kathryn, I really need to make that clear.
HOST: An extraordinarily sad time for not just the community, but right across Australia, as you said. Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy thank you for your time.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Thank you Kathryn.
