SNAICC in the News
15–21 August 2026
SNAICC has called for accountability from politicians, governments and social media platforms as the parliamentary inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people concluded its public hearings.
Family, community and supporters gathered in Mparntwe/Alice Springs to farewell Kumanjayi Little Baby, with coverage carried across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and regional media around the country.
Here is a look at where the conversation has been, 15–21 August 2026.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this edition of SNAICC in the News contains the name of Kumanjayi Little Baby, who has died, and links to coverage that may contain her image.
Accountability for Racism Starts at the Top
SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle has told ABC’s 7.30 that accountability for racism must run from political leaders through government systems to social media platforms and individuals, after ABC News reported that governments and senior officials invited to give evidence to the parliamentary inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people did not appear.
More than 700 submissions have been made to the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, including SNAICC’s submission, which sets out how political rhetoric, media narratives and digital platforms normalise racism, and how that harm reaches Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
Catherine Liddle told the hearing:
“I’m here because the story of racism is one of harm. It’s a story of hate, it’s a story of unfathomable damage — and it’s a story that we can change.”
“Racism is pervasive and it always will be until we front up to reality.”
This coverage from the ABC also reported who did not front up. A number of senior politicians and government representatives were invited to give evidence to the inquiry and did not attend.
Catherine Liddle was interviewed by ABC’s 7.30 about what the months of evidence had established. She told Sarah Ferguson that three things came through clearly from the people who turned up. She said that racist comments are “becoming more pervasive. They’re feeling it at an individual level. They’re hearing it from their children. They’re hearing it from their communities, and it is absolutely intolerable.”
She also explained that social media has changed how the media responds to racism. She gave the online reaction to an alleged assault in Mildura as an example of what that amplification does. A car chased two 12-year-old Aboriginal children and one child was badly harmed.
“Instead of the community online leaning in and going, ‘My goodness, this is horrific, imagine the fear, imagine the distress, we want this child to be well,’ what we saw was a pile-on, these children deserved, these children were guilty just by the fact that they were Aboriginal.”
“Turns out none of that was true – they were just kids in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
And finally SNAICC’s CEO said there needed to be more accountability.
“All of those people that stood up and told those stories were saying, ‘We’ve got to get better at this. We can’t accept it. We have to have accountability. And how can we be accountable if we even had governments that didn’t bother to turn up and listen?’”
Asked by Ferguson what accountability means, Catherine said:
“A lot of this is being modelled at the top.”
“At the political level, we need politicians to be more aware of the language that they use, and the narrative that they drive.”
“At the system level, we need our organisations that are supposed to be caring for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and when I’m talking about that, I’m talking about government services in particular, to actually step up and recognise when, instead of helping people, they are harming people. We need that front and centre.”
SNAICC is calling for the inquiry’s final report to deliver accountability that can be enforced, not another set of findings governments can absorb and move past.
Watch Catherine Liddle’s full interview with Sarah Ferguson on ABC’s 7.30 below.
Read our media release on the NT’s child protection laws here
Read the media releaseKumanjayi Little Baby Farewelled in Mparntwe
Family, community members and supporters gathered on the edge of Mparntwe/Alice Springs on Saturday to farewell Kumanjayi Little Baby, with AAP coverage carried nationally through the National Indigenous Times, First Nations News and dozens of regional mastheads.
Hundreds of mourners came, many dressed in pink, Kumanjayi Little Baby’s favourite colour. Rain fell on the Red Centre that day and the crowd moved together under shelter in the spirit of Jintangka.
Speaking to the Australian Associated Press, SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle, an Arrernte and Luritja woman from Central Australia, said the NT Government had a responsibility to address the issues surrounding this tragedy.
“We need to really examine how a violent perpetrator was in an environment where children are vulnerable.”
Catherine Liddle said keeping children safe also means investing in housing and early childhood supports, so families have what they need long before anything reaches crisis.
That call reached readers across the country. Duncan Murray’s report ran in the Canberra Times, Newcastle Herald, Illawarra Mercury, Border Mail, Examiner, Bendigo Advertiser, The Courier, Western Advocate, Port Macquarie News and Daily Advertiser, among dozens of other regional titles published by Australian Community Media.
Read the media releaseSNAICC Helping Shape National Education Policy for Our Children
A second round of consultation has opened on the national First Nations Education Policy, with The Educator naming SNAICC as one of five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak organisations partnering with the Department of Education to develop it.
The survey seeks feedback on the draft vision, guiding principles, focus areas and outcomes, and anyone aged 15 or older can take part, including individuals, families, schools, universities and community organisations.
SNAICC is developing the policy alongside the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Corporation, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Principals Association, the National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Consortium.
SNAICC is calling for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander expertise, culture and community leadership to be built into this policy from the start, not consulted on once the shape has been set. Getting in soon enough is the whole point.
Have your say in the First Nations Education Policy Consultation Survey 2026, closing 26 August
Learn more about our early childhood development advocacy
Read our media release here