00:02Well, Ros, this is actually the first time that we've heard from the report's co-authors,
00:06former New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb and long-time public servant here
00:10in the NT, Greg Shanahan, since the report was announced six months ago.
00:14The independent review was, of course, unveiled in the wake of Kumajaya Little Baby's death,
00:19who disappeared from the old-timers town camp in Alice Springs in April.
00:2347-year-old Jefferson Lewis remains before the courts charged with her murder.
00:27Now, this long-awaited report was finally tabled in NT Parliament yesterday
00:32and exposed a multitude of failures within the NT's child protection system
00:36and also highlighted the fact that Kumajaya Little Baby had been the subject to at least 14 DCF notifications,
00:43the first beginning before she was even born and another five being recorded in the weeks leading up to her
00:49death.
00:49Now, hearing from Mr Shanahan this morning, he says that he's not surprised but he is shocked about what he
00:55found.
00:56Take a listen.
00:57I'm surprised, I think, at the lack of integration.
01:00The information's there and there's the opportunity there to get the information if they need it.
01:05It's more that it's not coordinated enough to actually bring that stuff to the fore
01:09so that risk can be properly assessed and managed.
01:12This bit that we've done, I think, is probably the easy bit
01:15in the sense we're getting the information out, the department can identify the risk.
01:20The real question will come into play as to what you do with that information.
01:24Courtney, the review handed down 45 recommendations.
01:27How confident are they that these suggestions will be implemented?
01:32Well, Ros, in the words of Karen Webb, she's very confident that the NT government will be able to implement
01:38all of these recommendations in full by about six months.
01:42Now, yesterday, the NT government did assure that they will be adopting all 45 of the recommendations
01:48in full but was unable to give a timeline.
01:50However, the Minister for Children and Families, Robin Carl, did assure that some of these suggestions
01:55were already being undertaken, one of which being an immediate order of all children on safety plans,
02:01as well as the implementation of a domestic violence assessment into anyone who is being developed
02:07a child safety plan.
02:09Now, Karen Webb says that she's given the government a priority list of which ones should be implemented
02:16first, and that is currently underway.
02:19I'm very confident, even as late as yesterday, Greg and I attributed some priorities to those
02:28recommendations to assist government and the department to set the path moving, I suppose.
02:36Most of the recommendations we've given a priority one or two, which means in the first six months,
02:44most of those recommendations should be well on the move.
02:48Now, the ones that she's prioritised kind of fit into about half a dozen or so categories.
02:53They mainly address the leadership of the Department of Children and Families,
02:56as well as the government, improving workforce retention and professional development,
03:01as well as assessing those, well, that nexus, really, of domestic violence and those in the child protection system.
03:08Now, throughout the day, we're expecting to hear more reaction from peak bodies
03:12and Aboriginal Islanders and First Nations people about how they are reacting to these recommendations
03:18and whether or not they support them as well.
03:21You
