A five-year-old boy has allegedly been raped by a male relative in a remote indigenous community, and an expert says police and politicians are covering up an “epidemic” of child sexual abuse in the region.
The Northern Territory Police Force did not name the town in order to respect the victim’s privacy, but The Australian reported the alleged sexual assault occurred in the northern part of the territory, near the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Detectives from the Child Abuse Taskforce, Criminal Investigation Branch and general duties arrested the man, 19, and Wednesday, and he is due to face Darwin Local Court today charged with sexual intercourse with a child under 10.
Child abuse prevention specialist Holly-ann Martin said she visited 20 remote communities last year – half of them because children were “exhibiting harmful sexual behaviours” – and found children as young as five were being exposed to pornography and going on to act it out on their peers.
Ms Martin, an Order of Australia Medal recipient, said the public needed to be informed about the issue but senior police and politicians were refusing to speak out.
“They [politicians and senior police] just are covering it up,” she said.
“We need to shine a light on it so we can protect children. If we keep saying ‘nothing to see here’, then children aren’t being protected.
“The government have just announced today all this money for the Northern Territory. There’s money for women, where is the money for abuse prevention for children?”
She spoke out after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese committed $842.6 million over 6 years for remote aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, with funds earmarked for services including women’s safety, education and “alcohol harm reduction”.
“Australians want to close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Australians believe in the fair go,” Mr Albanese said on Friday.
“The task before us is to build a future in which all Australians have access to the same opportunities.
“My government remains determined to seek better results for indigenous Australians and help Close the Gap.”
Days after the alleged rape a 41-year-old woman was allegedly bashed to death by her partner at an aboriginal town camp outside crime-ravaged Alice Springs, which is one of the most dangerous cities in the world, and came after another aboriginal woman was killed by her partner on January 13.
Header image: Darwin Local Court (Google Street View)
