QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator McCARTHY (Northern Territory—Minister for Indigenous Australians) (14:32): I thank Senator Thorpe for the question. There are two elements to this that I think are really important for the Senate to be aware of. One is that, clearly, the Northern Territory government have embarked on a piece of legislation that they already had in place prior to what we saw—and this Senate gave a condolence motion yesterday in regard to what has happened in Alice Springs.

And, with the decision by the NT Children's Commissioner and the Australian First Nations commissioner for children, those decisions came about, Senator Thorpe, as a result of the concerns that were coming through what was happening in Central Australia. I have certainly reached out to the Minister for Child Protection in the Northern Territory, expressing my concerns that unless the minister is working with the First Nations— Senator Nampijinpa Price interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order!

Senator McCARTHY: No, actually, Senator Price, that is absolutely not true. No, it's not true. Please have some respect, Senator Price.

Senator Nampijinpa Price interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! You will listen in silence or leave the chamber. Senator McCARTHY: As I saying, what I've asked certainly the Northern Territory government to do in this instance—in reference to Senator Thorpe's question—is to ensure that they do meet with the Aboriginal organisations and both the Aboriginal children's commissioner at the Northern Territory level and the national children's commissioner, which we put in place here because we are concerned about our First Nations children right across Australia.

And that is important. This parliament supported that and endorsed that because we know that, by having that position in place, that commissioner at the national level could look out for our children. The PRESIDENT: Senator Thorpe, first supplementary?