00:00Maintaining culture is vital to Ornamblant woman Najeste Dilipuma Potsana.
00:12Every day we do things according to Yolngu custom, Yolngu law.
00:19So she works with other Aboriginal leaders to help the NT government find child protection
00:24places for Indigenous kids with Indigenous families.
00:29To keep Yolngu children with Yolngu families on Yolngu land, connected to their language,
00:37their culture.
00:39She's concerned leaked documents show the territory government plans to enable courts
00:44to stop adhering to the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle, under which Indigenous kids taken
00:51into care must go to Indigenous placements where possible.
00:56Children that were Yolngu and placed in out-of-home care and not in Yolngu families, when they
01:04became adults, they turned to drugs, alcohol and crime.
01:13Independent MP Yinya Gula shares the concern.
01:17It's just too many, too many children away from home.
01:22That's our history being taken away.
01:25It's going to be wiped out.
01:26The government is adamant the law change is needed because it says in some cases requiring
01:32Aboriginal children to be placed with Aboriginal families could cause harm.
01:37Where potentially applying those principles in an absolute, explicit way, there is a risk
01:45that harm could be caused to the child or an adult attached to the child.
01:49Aboriginal leaders aren't reassured.
01:52Stop creating something that doesn't work.
01:55It just doesn't work.
01:56They want more consultation before the change is introduced to Parliament.
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