Inquest into how 2-year-old boy drowned in Mt Liebig septic tank begins in Alice Springs

An inquest into the horrific death of a toddler has heard how a 2019 report first identified issues with a septic system which were not acted on.

Alice Springs Local Court. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Evidence at an inquest could reveal how a government department was aware of a “troublesome septic system” but did not act – a failure which led to a toddler’s horrific death in a remote Northern Territory community.

Extra chairs were brought into the old Alice Springs supreme courtroom for the grieving family of Kumunjayi Fly, searching for answers as to how the two-year-old drowned in a Mt Liebig septic tank last year.

Presiding over the inquest, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage told the court how the boy was playing in his grandparents backyard, unaware of a “troublesome septic system”.

Aerial image of Mt Liebig, Northern Territory. The community is 325km west of Alice Springs. Picture: NT Government BushTel

“He should have been safe. The family did not understand that there was, in fact, a danger in that yard,” she said.

Ms Armitage said the boy fell in the tank on March 29, 2023.

He died on April 4 in the Adelaide Women’s and Children hospital.

“Within a couple of days of that tragedy, the (septic tank) lid was made secure,” she said.

“I ask, why did it cost a child’s life to make those repairs happen.”

In her opening statement, counsel-assisting Fiona Kepert revealed how a 2019 plumbing audit identified issues with the specific septic tank the boy drowned in.

The inquest heard how blocked toilet’s and an overflowing septic tanks are common occurrences in Mt Liebig, NT. Picture: NT Courts

The report identified multiple issues of noncompliance, Ms Kepert said, including but not limited to how “access covers were incorrect” across multiple septic tanks in the remote community.

She further detailed how at the boys grandmother house – where he was playing – the report identified the septic was non-compliant “due to the fact that the access covers are incorrect, missing bollards/protection, no distribution pit, joint putty coming adrift from the saddle riser and tank, baffles corroded”.

Counsel-assisting Fiona Kepert said Mt Liebig residents often used makeshift air-conditioner stands to attempt to keep their homes cool.

Ms Kepert said the home where the boy drowned was the responsibility of the Territory Government by the “department responsible for public housing”.

The property was overseen by the Department of Territory Families.

The department has since been split.

Lawyer Michael McCarthy is representing the Department of Housing and the Department of Health at the inquest.

Lawyer Tom Grace is representing the Department of Logistics and Infrastructure, formerly the Department of Infrastructure, Logistics, and Planning.

They are expected to give evidence at a later date, as well as builders who were involved with renovation projects in Mt Liebig.

Ms Kepert said there were 900 septic tanks across public housing properties in the NT, excluding homelands, schools, government buildings, police stations, and clinics.

“The risk of drowning is clearly very real and widespread,” she said.

The inquest continues until Friday, October 18.