Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is leading calls for calm in Alice Springs as a massive police presence heads to the town to help maintain a fragile peace after the arrest of an accused child killer led to vigilantism and street riots.
There are now multiple calls for inquiries and the Central Australian town has brought in an alcohol ban as part of the efforts to prevent further outbreaks of violence after Jefferson Lewis handed himself into a town camp near Charles Creek and was beaten unconscious by community members.
Lewis, 47, was arrested by police on Thursday night after one of the Northern Territory’s biggest manhunts following the disappearance of five-year-old girl, Kumanjayi Little Baby, who was abducted from her bed at Old Timers Aboriginal Camp on Saturday and found dead by a river bed five days later. Her cause of death is yet to be determined.
The national commissioner for Indigenous children called for an investigation into the correctional systems that allowed the recent release of Jefferson Lewis.
“As we call for justice, we also call for unity, and we remember the loss that sits at the centre of this,” National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Sue-Anne Hunter said.
“The hope we held for Kumanjayi Little Baby’s safe discovery and return must now be held for the futures of our children. This must compel us to be better and do better for them. Every child has a right to safety and a bright future … We call for a wider investigation into the correctional systems that led to his release.”
The girl’s grandfather, Robin Granites, said now was the time for sorry business and to show respect to his grieving family.
“Our children are precious, of course we are feeling angry and hurt at what has happened,” he said in a statement.
“This man has been caught, thanks to community action, and we must now let justice take its course.”
As news of Lewis’ arrest spread on Thursday night, grief spilled out into anger and a 400-strong crowd descended on Alice Springs Hospital demanding Lewis, who was being treated inside, be released back to community to be punished.
Northern Territory Police Commissioner Martin Dole called the scenes “absolute anarchy”, with officers forced to fire rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd as rioters smashed and set police cars alight, hurled projectiles at emergency service workers and damaged four of the town’s five ambulance vehicles.
“Attacks on frontline workers are never acceptable, and whilst we appreciate and understand that people are very angry and grieving, there is never an excuse or an acceptability of violence as a response,” he said.
“We are very hopeful that that was an isolated incident and should not define what has been an incredible community effort.
“Mr Lewis is in police custody, there will be a prosecution commenced, and the court case will proceed. That needs to be accepted by the community.”
Lewis was flown to Darwin for his own protection on Thursday night and has since been released from hospital into police custody. He is yet to be charged.
Despite having no car, phone or bank account, Lewis – who was released from prison a week before the alleged abduction – avoided police detection for five days.
“It’s quite clear to us that somebody knew where he was, or was assisting him – for him to appear in Alice Springs last night … My message for those people is look out because we’re coming for you as well,” Dole said.
Bottleshops were closed, and additional police were sent to Alice Springs on Friday to help quell community tensions as the prime minister called for calm.
News of the death of Kumanjayi Little Baby’s death “breaks your heart”, Albanese said at a press conference on Friday morning.
“There’s meetings there on the ground, as we speak right now, bringing together community leaders, the police, the health workers, the people at the hospital who had to deal with what occurred last night,” Albanese said.
“We want to see the community come together, but we certainly understand people’s anger and frustration and that that was expressed, but we want the community to come together,” he said.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor accused the government of being in denial about the management of Indigenous communities, as his Aboriginal affairs spokeswoman senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price joined calls for an inquiry into the town camps.
“Get out of denial about the situation we’re seeing around Alice Springs and elsewhere. I mean, it’s the denial that has led us to this place where people aren’t prepared to have honest conversations about the state of affairs in our town camps and what options there are to address it,” Taylor told Sky News this morning.
Price, who revealed she was the girl’s aunt, said the death was “devastating”.
“As part of her extended family, this loss is deeply felt,” she said in a statement. “This is the worst possible outcome, and no child should ever be placed in harm’s way.”
In an opinion piece in The Australian newspaper, Price said the death was a result of the poor management of regional communities.
“The town camp now at the centre of this case is one I know well. It is a place where I have lost family. A niece was stabbed to death there. Another child in my extended family was killed in an accident at the front of that same camp. There have been too many lives lost in that place alone,” she said.
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe called for a “full and transparent investigation” into the death of Kumanjayi Little Baby as she warned events overnight in Alice Springs were spurring racism against Indigenous Australians.
“This is a time of deep grief for our people. It’s a time for sorry business and there must be calm. We must all show respect for the family and those grieving,” Thorpe said.
Elder Cedric Miller said people leaving prison needed to be given more support and structure.
“When you get released from prison there’s no help, you’re just there doing your time, where do you go after that, there’s nowhere to go?” he said.
“We’d like to see this government changing things, changing the rules when you come out of prison, that you’ve got to go straight back to your community.
“The town has got to be safe all the time for our young kids.”
It’s understood Lewis was told by members of his community, Yuendumu, that he was not welcome there, which led to him staying at Old Timers Camp, where the little girl and her family were also staying.
For cultural reasons, the name of the five-year-old victim will no longer be published, in accordance with the family’s wishes.
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Nick Newling is a federal politics reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
