According to documents seen by AAP, the Northern Territory government is planning to amend child protection laws to give courts and the Department of Children and Families powers to override national guidelines under the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle.
Current laws provide protections for Aboriginal children in care, including placing them with family or kin and close to country, however a "special and exceptional circumstance" provision would be added under draft legislation.
In documents circulated to the child protection sector on Thursday, Department of Children and Families drafting instructions state: "a court has discretion to not uphold the principle in special/exceptional circumstances …" if it is believed doing so would adversely affect the child.
The Aboriginal Child Placement Principle was developed to provide nationally accepted standards for Indigenous children in care after a series of reports in the past 30 years, including the 1997 Bringing Them Home Report.
SNAICC chief executive Catherine Liddle says the proposed law change appears discriminatory. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
Currently, more than 90 per cent of children in care in the Northern Territory are Aboriginal.
North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service chief executive Cindy Torrens, a Warlmanpa and Wambay woman, said the proposed amendments were "extremely concerning" and would weaken the intention of the law.
"The Northern Territory child protection system has been the subject of an unprecedented number of inquiries and reports, including a royal commission," she said.
"These reports tell us over and over again that our children's connections to culture, family, community and country are integral to their safety and wellbeing."
Ms Torrens said it had been only two months since the coroner recommended strengthening the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle following the tragic death of a six-month-old baby in care.
"We urgently need to repair this broken system ... and shift the unequal power dynamics that have historically existed between child protection and our families," she said.
Both the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) and the NT Children's Commissioner made submissions urging the territory government to rethink its proposal after the bodies were given just 48 hours to provide feedback.
"This type of exception does not exist elsewhere in Australia and should not be introduced in the Northern Territory," SNAICC chief executive Catherine Liddle wrote.
"On its face, the amendment appears discriminatory in its design and to limit Aboriginal children's rights specifically."
Ms Liddle said the discriminatory nature of the amendments went against recommendations made in numerous reports intended to prevent further stolen generations.
Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said she shared concerns about the proposed changes.
Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy has concerns about the NT proposal. ((A)manda Parkinson/AAP PHOTOS)
"Under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, all governments have committed to reducing the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care," Senator McCarthy said.
Asked whether there were plans to amend or remove the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle, a spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families said the safety and wellbeing of children was the priority.
"We are committed to working with children, families and Aboriginal communities to ensure culturally appropriate responses to safety concerns for children in the Northern Territory," the spokeswoman said in a statement.
"There are no plans to remove the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle in Care and Protection of Children Act 2007."
NT Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said the government would no longer accept the "status quo" when it came to community safety, including Aboriginal children.
"We will do things differently under this government and we won't apologise for that," she told reporters.
"We want to see that all legislation we consider is putting territorians' rights above the rights of offenders … if there are laws that need to be changed, then they will be changed."
Opposition Leader Selena Uibo said the Country Liberal Party (CLP) government was "prioritising political point-scoring".
"Alarmingly, some of these changes seem to target Aboriginal children and families specifically," she said.
"The CLP must explain why they are creating laws that single out one segment of our community."
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