SNAICC in the News

24–29 May 2026

This Reconciliation Week, the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families has sat at the centre of national debate.

SNAICC has called on the Northern Territory Government to abandon legislation that would weaken the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle, reforms that leaders across the country warn risk repeating the wrongs that created the Stolen Generations.

Here is a look at where the conversation has been, 23–29 May 2026

SNAICC Warns NT Child Protection Reforms Risk Repeating History

SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle has condemned the Northern Territory’s proposed child protection reforms, as the National Indigenous Times reported, warning that weakening the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle will lead to more children being removed from their families, not fewer children at risk.

SNAICC has called on the NT Government to abandon the changes.

Submissions on the draft amendments to the Care and Protection of Children Act closed on Friday of last week, after Aboriginal organisations were given just one week to make a submission on the proposed changes.

SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle said two elements raise particular concern: the weakening of the Child Placement Principle, and a new two-year time limit on short-term care orders before a child is moved into long-term out-of-home care. As the NT News reported, she said:

“This is like watching a horror movie play out where you can see what’s coming and you’re saying, please don’t open that door, please don’t open that door.”

The evidence on this is settled. Catherine Liddle said:

“We know removing the child placement principle will not make children safer, fact. That is known and it is entrenched in evidence from many, many years of inquiries, reports and royal commissions.”

In the NT News article, SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle warned that reprioritisation would drive a sharp rise in removals by creating a departmental culture that no longer works with families:

“The Aboriginal Child Placement Principle says work with families, ask them where a child should go, ask them what’s happening in their lives. This new law doesn’t do that, it says remove.”

According to the Family Matters Report 2025, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are almost 10 times more likely to be in out-of-home care than non-Indigenous children, and in the Northern Territory only around 17 per cent of Aboriginal children are placed with relatives or kin, the lowest rate in the country.

Children are not always safer once removed. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports that almost half of children in out-of-home care who were abused while in the system in 2023 to 2024 were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

Speaking to the NT News journalist Fia Walsh, CEO Catherine Liddle said the true figure is likely higher still, with transparency on harm-in-care data especially poor in the Territory.

“Transparency on that data is really hard, particularly in the Territory, but the number of children harmed in care is horrific.”

“There are case examples where children as young as five might have had more than 20 carers in one month … 20 placements means 20 different beds, 20 different adults, 20 rules, 20 suburbs, 20 bedtimes.”

“The evidence shows that children in out of home care are always going to do better if we can keep contact with their families and if their families can be restored. There are massive emotional and physiological harms that occur to children when they are permanently removed.”

This is not a new lesson. As SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle said to the NT News:

“What we see when legislation like this is enacted is a dramatic uptick in the number of children removed from their families because it creates a (departmental) culture that isn’t interested in supporting families – because it’s terrified, and it’s under resourced.”

“The Aboriginal Child Placement Principle says work with families, ask them where a child should go, ask them what’s happening in their lives – this (new law) doesn’t do that, it says ‘remove’.”

Those concerns are shared across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders. Last week, the National Indigenous Times reported widespread concerns about the changes and lack of consultation.

Families with children in the Territory’s care system have raised concerns of their own. As the ABC reported, parents have described concerns about their children’s treatment in care going unanswered by the department, the kind of accountability gap a genuine, independent inquiry and a strengthened Child Placement Principle could work to close.

The Child Placement Principle is a safety framework built on decades of evidence, designed to keep our children connected to family, community and culture. Children in care do better when contact with family is kept and when families can be restored. SNAICC remains ready to work in genuine partnership on reform that keeps children safe and connected, not reform that opens the door to the harms we already know are coming.

On Sorry Day, the Removals Have Not Stopped

As the country marked National Sorry Day, our member organisation AbSec, the peak body for Aboriginal children and families in New South Wales, warned that the harm being remembered is still being done, as the National Indigenous Times reported. In New South Wales, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are removed from their families at almost ten times the rate of non-Indigenous children. 

SNAICC supports AbSec’s call for systemic change.  

National Sorry Day, on 26 May, remembers the Stolen Generations, the tens of thousands of children forcibly removed from their families under decades of removal policy. Yet more than 6,500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people remain in out-of-home care in New South Wales today. AbSec chief executive John Leha said: 

“We say sorry to the Stolen Generations. Yet in the same breath, history is repeating. The answer cannot be more of the same. Aboriginal communities must lead the change for our children.”

AbSec has called for a Child Safety and Wellbeing Commission to provide independent oversight of the New South Wales removal system and to monitor compliance with the Child Placement Principle. The same principle now under threat in the Northern Territory is the one AbSec is asking New South Wales to fully implement. Reconciliation, as AbSec puts it, must be measured in children kept with their families. 

From Country to Classroom

SNAICC has launched the Bushland Animal Yoga Cards, a new culturally grounded early childhood resource, pairing fundamental movement skills with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and native animals to help three- to five-year-olds learn, move and connect to culture.

The cards teach fundamental movement skills, the running, hopping, catching and balancing that form the building blocks for later sport, dance and physical education, while fostering connection to culture and a sense of identity.

They were developed in response to early childhood services asking for physical resources better suited to the lives of our children and have also drawn strong interest from non-Indigenous services seeking culturally grounded materials for their lesson planning.

SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle explained the important role the cards play for ECEC services and for the children:

“The cards are in response to services asking for physical resources that were more contextually appropriate to our children’s lives.”

“The cards teach fundamental movement skills for 3- to 5-year-olds by fostering connections to culture and teaching physical education lessons, providing culturally safe, playful and integrated resources for ECEC services.”

Zieha Flick from Towri MACS in Bathurst, whose service has used the cards for more than 12 months, said they work where a video cannot:

“The cards are so good when we have kids that are going a bit crazy, and you need something to calm kids down. We find them easier and far more accessible than having a video of yoga because the cards are interactive, more visual, and we can get involved and demonstrate with them.”

The Bushland Animal Yoga Cards are available now on the SNAICC website.

Continued coverage of the Budget as a ‘Missed Opportunity’ to invest in Community-Led Solutions 

Continued coverage of SNAICC’s response to the missed opportunities in the Federal Budget was reported by Dechlan Brennan in The West Australian. 

The budget announced important investments, including a $218.3 million investment to support the first actions under plans such as Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices, as well as $171.7 million over five years in the families and children program. 

However, the budget fell short in a number of areas, including no funding commitment to secure the future of the critical Early Years Support program, despite strong evidence of the benefits. 

Ultimately, the budget fell short of investing in the community-led solutions that shift outcomes.  

As CEO Catherine Liddle said: 

“One of those missed opportunities is not investing in the community-led solutions that were on the table.”

The community-controlled sector is where lasting change is built. What is needed is sustained, needs-based investment that lets our organisations deliver at the scale our children and families deserve. 

This week, as we all reflect on the theme of Reconciliation Week, All In, it’s an important reminder that investing in ACCOs, listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, families and children, requires everyone to be all in. The solutions are on the table.  

The budget was a missed opportunity to go all in.