Young lives neglected and lost

Whatever coroner Greg Cavanagh’s findings, the inquest in the Northern Territory into the tragic deaths of three teenage girls is an alarming wake-up call. Evidence given in the court suggests little has improved since the NT emergency intervention began in 2007. Mr Cavanagh is investigating the deaths by hanging of Fionica Yarranganlagi James, Keturah Cheralyn Mamarika and Layla “Gulum” Leering in unrelated incidents in 2016 and 2017. Aged 15 to 17, each was a victim of serious crimes that should have been pursued by authorities.

Child protection, health and education agencies missed warning signs and failed to intervene, as Amos Aikman reported. Two of the girls sought contraception and treatment for STIs at age 12 or 13. The inquest heard all three were molested; two were found dead with “fresh genital injuries”. Counsel assisting, Kelvin Currie, told the inquest Keturah had probably been raped by three males when she was 12; Fionica was raped by an older man when she was 14. Layla, he said, was likely raped by a young male who lived in the same house. As Aikman reported, the court has been packed with departmental executives, advisers and lawyers, with witnesses proffering mea culpas on behalf of their agencies. Territory Families reportedly missed evidence of Keturah being gang-raped. A senior education bureaucrat admitted her department “ could have done more to support these children’’.

Apologies will not suffice. If three non-Indigenous girls were found hanged after such trauma, demands for action would be intense. Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt is right to consider mandatory reporting requirements for adults who find out children have sexually transmitted infections. Such warnings should not be ignored. It is a “sad indictment that all tiers of government have not ... come to grips with protecting children’’ from high levels of abuse, as Mr Wyatt says.