Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this contains images and names of a deceased person.
A devastated Alice Springs local has called for the town’s notoriously squalid camps to be “destroyed completely” as the community reels from Kumanjayi Little Baby’s death.
Jefferson Lewis, 47, was arrested on Saturday and later charged with the murder of the five-year-old, whose disappearance on Anzac Day sparked widespread searches around the Northern Territory’s Old Timers town camp.
It is one of 16 camps located on the fringes of Alice Springs, home to Aboriginal families living in tightly connected communities.
Census data shows around 1055 people across 256 households permanently live in these camps, however, the population fluctuates wildly, with families coming in and out of town.
The death of Kumanjayi Little Baby has plunged the nation into mourning and thrown a spotlight on the dire conditions inside these camps, with Senator Jacinta Price demanding an independent inquiry.
A longtime local – who spoke to news.com.au on the condition of anonymity – said the conditions in the camps were so unacceptable they should be “destroyed completely”, and that it would be easier to simply “destroy the structures” and rehouse inhabitants.
That sentiment was echoed by Kumanjayi Little Baby’s grandfather, Robin Granites, who told The Australian he had seen no improvement in the town camps.
“They still think that we are an animal,” he said.
Conditions inside three town camps visited by news.com.au over the past week were deplorable, with this reporter witnessing dilapidated buildings, gutted cars, beds pushed outside and piles of rubbish strewn about.
However it’s what occurs inside the houses which stands out.
The Australian last week visited the home Kumanjayi Little Baby had been living in, and revealed she had been sleeping on floor mattresses in rooms lined with empty liquor bottles, surrounded by piles of rotting garbage and exposed to roaming camp dogs taking their food.
Senator Jacinta Price, who grew up in and out of Alice Springs town camps in the 80s and 90s, described the camps as a “hell on earth” with widespread and severe alcohol-related violence, fatal stabbings and devastating health failures that often leave children orphaned or raised by relatives.
Senator Price added “nothing had changed” since then, detailing to news.com.au her horrific personal experiences with the camps.
Senator Price accused organisations tasked with supporting residents such as Tagentyere Council and Central Australian Aboriginal Congress of failing to deliver meaningful outcomes, despite significant government funding.
According to Senator Price, there was a lack of accountability around how funding was spent and whether programs aimed at addressing issues like domestic violence were actually working.
She argued that organisations should be required to meet clear benchmarks to justify ongoing funding, questioning why measurable outcomes were not consistently enforced.
She also criticised what she described as a reluctance to reassess existing approaches, including the idea that solutions must come from within Aboriginal organisations.
“What we’re doing isn’t working,” she told news.com.au.
“Let’s stop treating Aboriginal people differently and this nonsense concept that only Aboriginal people can fix Aboriginal people. Well, that’s not working. So I think we need a bloody reassessment.”
However, the organisations strongly disputed her claims.
In a statement given to news.com.au, Tangentyere Council Aboriginal Corporation CEO Walter Shaw directed concerns to various other agencies.
“Houses in Town Camps are NT Government asset,” he said in a brief statement.
“Tenancy management is provided by Community Housing Central Australia. Tangentyere does not own the housing nor do they collect the rents. All Tangentyere programs, whether Federal or Territory Government funded, are fully audited by the funders.”
In a statement, Community Housing Central Australia (CHCA) CEO Ken Marchingo said the organisation and Tangentyere were proposing a new model, “that has taken a decade to finalise”.
The model is aimed at bringing Town Camps under a “new integrated community control model, and if anything positive is to come from the current spotlight, as politically motivated and divisive as it is, it may be just this”.
Mr Marchingo added “it is a fair statement to note that the condition of public housing across the Territory is parlous, costs more than other jurisdictions, has higher vacancy levels because of higher use and overcrowding and has a far more complex and vulnerable tenant base, these characteristics are shared with the Town Camps”.
In response to news.com.au’s request for comment, Chairperson of Central Australian Aboriginal Congress Ebony Abbott-McCormack said they would not be engaging in public argument “except to correct the inaccuracy of the claims being made” out of respect for Kumanjayi Little Baby’s family.
“It is not true that Aboriginal health isn’t improving,” she said.
A spokesperson directed news.com.au to a 116 page report – produced by the organisation itself – “evidencing health improvements”.
“Congress’ recently released Making History report – a collaboration with highly respected and experienced researchers – shows that improvements are being made in key health indicators,” the report states.
Congress highlighted that Aboriginal-led health initiatives have successfully narrowed the life expectancy gap in the Northern Territory, though “much still needs to be done” to address poverty and overcrowding.
While health groups like Congress are claiming victories, its own data shows town housing overcrowding is worsening and Indigenous employment within its own ranks is shrinking.
According to the Congress report, while life expectancy improved, overcrowded housing in Alice Springs actually worsened from 2011 to 2021.
The report also conceded that the life expectancy gap remains “unacceptably wide” and notes that recent years have seen an increasing prevalence of metabolic syndromes, including diabetes, renal disease and cardiovascular disease.
Separate findings paint an equally troubling picture of infrastructure.
In an earlier 2016 report commissioned by the NT Government for $2.37 million, it was found the total cost to bring all Town Camp houses up to the standards of the Residential Tenancy Act would be a staggering $77.7 million.
The report also found the essential infrastructure was failing, with the majority of Town Camps using sewerage networks that were non-compliant with Power and Water Corporation standards.
The origins of the camps add further complexity to the debate.
They were established as a result of discriminatory policies that once barred Aboriginal people from freely entering Alice Springs. Between 1928 and 1964, Aboriginal people were legally prohibited from being in the town between sunset and sunrise without special exemption.
Those policies forced communities to the outskirts, a legacy that continues to shape the town camps today.
Now, in the wake of a Kumanjayi Little Baby’s death, the question of what comes next is once again front and centre.
