27/10/2026
CELEBRATING OUR ACHIEVEMENTS, BUT WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE FOR OUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN?
While the community of Wadeye is rejoicing in the extraordinary achievement of winning the national DanceRites competition, and receiving well-deserved recognition for its economic development successes in oyster farming and crabbing, there is a deafening silence surrounding the release of the Wadeye and Peppimenarti Women and Children’s Safety Report.
The contrast could not be more confronting.
The report represents the courage of women who came forward to share deeply personal and often traumatic experiences, in the hope that their voices would finally bring meaningful change.
Yet, two weeks after its public release, and four weeks after the report was formally provided to Federal and Northern Territory Ministers , we have not received a single response from any of the four Federal and Northern Territory Ministers to whom the report was directed.
The only public political response we have seen has been from the Federal Member, who appeared to place responsibility firmly with the Northern Territory Government.
While we acknowledge and welcome an invitation to meet with the CEO of the NT Department of Children and Families, there has been no direct response from a single Minister.
At a time when Australia is confronting a national domestic and family violence crisis, this silence is profoundly disappointing.
These women did not come forward simply to contribute to another report. They spoke because they want their children to be safe. They spoke because they want violence to stop. They spoke because they believed someone would listen.
Their courage deserves more than silence. Their stories deserve more than acknowledgement. They deserve leadership, accountability and action.
We are enormously proud of Wadeye’s achievements. Our dancers, artists, rangers, sea farmers and emerging enterprises are demonstrating the extraordinary strength, talent and potential of our communities.
But we cannot celebrate the success of our communities while overlooking the safety of the women and children who live in them.
We should not have to fight this hard to have their voices heard.
To the Ministers responsible, we ask a simple question:
What will it take for the voices of the women and children of Wadeye and Peppimenarti to be heard, and for their safety to become a priority?
Thamarrurr Development Corporation
Wiyi Yani U Thangani Institute
Kimberley Aboriginal Women's Council
Dheran Young: Member for Daly
Steve Edgington MLA
Senator Malarndirri McCarthy - Northern Territory
