Allegations by a federal senator that the child protection system is putting Indigenous children at risk have been strongly rejected by the Northern Territory government.
On Sunday, NT Country Liberal senator Jacinta Price made several claims about the territory government's families, housing and communities department, which oversees the foster care of Indigenous children.
Senator Price claimed Indigenous children in foster care were being returned to abusive homes due to kinship rules she said should be abolished.
"It is failings by Territory Families to actually uphold the human rights of these children ... the priority is to put them with kin even though that kin may be living in dysfunctional circumstances," she told ABC Insiders.
"This has been an ongoing issue but one you can't put a spotlight onto unless you have a royal commission.
"It is incumbent upon state and territory governments to do the right thing when it comes to child protection."
Senator Price called on the federal government to take over child protection responsibility from the territory.
"If we put the lives and the responsibility of children into the federal arena, that's a referendum I could get behind because I think we absolutely need a review of how that is, or isn't, working across the board," she said.
'You can't just claim these things and then walk away'
But NT Police Minister Kate Worden said Senator Price's claim that children being returned to abusive homes was incorrect.
She said her department had heard "crickets" from the senator and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton who had not made any reports about cases of child abuse they had referenced in media conferences.
"You can't just claim these things and then walk away ... she needs to come forward and make declarations (to police) that support that view," Ms Worden told reporters in Darwin.
"The kinship care system has gone a long way in making sure that we can develop relationships within communities and find safe places for young people within family and culture, but never at the expense of the safety of the child."
Ms Worden said the territory's child protection system did not place children back into communities or homes where abusive perpetrators lived.
"The current statements that are being made around our child protection system are incorrect," she said.
"Everybody has a role to play in child safety ... we're all in this together. None of us have our heads buried in the sand and it's really important that we don't get destabilised."
The minister said many child protection workers in the department would feel "demonised" by Senator Price's comments.
"We know that every day you're doing a fantastic job to keep young people safe," Ms Worden said.
"We will continue to back all of our sector and we will continue to back the work of our child protection officers."
