An Indigenous leader's frank admission has laid bare the history between authorities and the community members of Alice Springs. 

Australian Human Rights Commission's Indigenous Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss commended police for their "urgency and determination" in finding missing five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby.

She said she "cannot recall a time when the disappearance of an Aboriginal child has received this level of urgent attention from law enforcement".

READ MORE: 'We need to let the family mourn': Traditional owners speak after Alice Springs riot

"Tragically, there are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people currently missing who have not been met with the same response," she said in a statement.

"My greatest hope is that Kumanjayi Little Baby's short life becomes a turning point – that in this country, the life of an Indigenous child is valued, protected and pursued with the same urgency as any other child."

Alice Springs is home to cases of Indigenous deaths in custody and a long history of alcohol bans and curfews. 

Kumanjayi White, a 24-year-old with a disability, was killed after he was restrained by plainclothes officers for shoplifting at Coles in May 2025. The investigation remains ongoing.

In November 2019, 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker was shot three times inside his home by police officer Zachary Rolfe.

Rolfe was acquitted of murder charges and denied findings from a coroner in July last year that he was racist and his attitudes played a role in the teenager's death.

The coroner also found "all forms of racism" were present within the NT Police and made 18 recommendations for the force. 

At the time, NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole said the findings were confronting and committed to "stamping out racism in all its forms".

The force introduced its Anti-Racism Strategy late last year.

READ MORE: 'National disgrace': Jacinta Price reacts to death of five-year-old niece

Indigenous deaths in custody reached a record figure in the 2024-25 financial year, the highest since records began in 1979-80, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology.

There were 113 deaths in custody, with 33 of those Indigenous deaths. Two of those were in the Northern Territory.

Indigenous Australians make up just 3.8 per cent of the population but account for more than 33.3 per cent of the prison population. 

The federal government has also been criticised by some Indigenous organisations like the Aboriginal Medical Alliance Northern Territory for interventionist alcohol bans in Alice Springs being a band-aid solution.

Alcohol bans were introduced in 2007 and lasted 15 years until they lapsed in 2022 and were reintroduced the following year due to high crime rates.

The Territory government reintroduced a ban on takeaway alcohol today following community unrest outside the Alice Springs Hospital, where the man accused of the murder of Kumanjayi Little Baby was taken after being arrested by police last night.

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe today said there were broader issues in the Northern Territory that cannot be ignored, like extreme poverty and a lack of basic services and support.

She urged the government to support and empower communities to create solutions, rather than engage in "interventionist approaches of the past".

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called for calm within the community while Opposition Leader Angus Taylor and Liberal Senator Jacinta Price call for an independent inquiry into town camps.

For 24/7 crisis support run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, contact 13YARN (13 92 76).

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732)

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A man will remain behind bars after facing court charged with the attempted stabbing murder of an on-duty paramedic.

The Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance paramedic was allegedly stabbed in the neck and face in an unprovoked attack as he waited for a coffee outside a cafe in Reservoir in Melbourne's north yesterday.

The paramedic, who recently became a father, was taken to hospital with stab wounds to his face and neck in a stable condition after a passerby came to his rescue.

READ MORE: Man charged after paramedic stabbed while stopping for coffee

Mohamud Ali, 32, was charged with attempted murder and made no application for bail in a brief hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court this morning.

Police allege he got out of a small, red car and stabbed the paramedic in the upper body before fleeing in the vehicle.

The court heard it was Ali's first time in custody and he had no diagnosed medical conditions, although was prescribed diazepam by his general practitioner.

He is slated to return to court on August 7.

There is a minimum jail term of six months for people who injure emergency workers in Victoria, but the law only applies to emergency workers who are "on duty" at the time.

Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said the loophole had been exposed by the incident and another recent case involving a female paramedic who was not treating a patient when she was attacked.

The definition of "on duty" refers to when a paramedic is providing care to a patient, he said.

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Premier Jacinta Allan has committed to fixing the laws in response to the incident, and victims and unions raising the "loopholes" issue.

Her government will ask the Victorian Law Reform Commission to review the definition of "on duty".

Shadow attorney-general James Newbury called the review "offensive" and accused Allan of "sitting on her hands".

"Our emergency service workers deserve more than another review," he said.

The opposition has vowed to introduce a private members bill in the next parliamentary sitting period to ensure emergency services workers are protected at all times.

Deputy Premier Ben Carroll conceded it was "fair" to point out the failure of the current laws to cover this specific incident.

He said the definition of "on duty" would be clarified as soon as possible to cover emergency workers "walking around in uniform".

"No ifs, no buts," Carroll told reporters today.

The laws were tightened in 2020 after James Haberfield, 22, avoided a prison term despite admitting to attacking a paramedic at a musical festival while on a cocktail of drugs.

Haberfield was ordered to serve an 18-month community corrections order and undergo treatment for schizophrenia, which he suffered at the time of the attack.

The change meant offenders could no longer rely on a "special reasons" clause if their mental state was self-induced by alcohol or drug use.

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WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this story contains the image of a person who is deceased.

Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price labelled the suspected murder of her niece, Kumanjayi Little Baby, a "national disgrace" as she called for an independent inquiry.

The five-year-old girl was found dead yesterday, about five days after going missing from an Alice Springs town camp.

In an opinion piece titled "tragic case highlights a national disgrace" published in The Australian, Price said the town camp at the centre of the incident had a history of violence, including the fatal stabbing of her niece.

READ MORE: 'Coming for you': Police warning to associates of suspected child killer

"For too long, there has been a reluctance to speak plainly about the conditions in and around town camps," she wrote.

"In reality, too many have become environments where safety is not guaranteed, particularly for children."

Price called for an independent inquiry into the circumstances of the death and broader conditions, including the governance of town camps and the role of organisations responsible for their upkeep.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor similarly told Sky News the federal government needs to "get out of denial" about the situation in Alice Springs and other communities.

"It's the denial that has led us to this place where people aren't prepared to have honest conversations about the state of affairs in our town camps, and what options there are to address it," he said.

"There is violence going on. There is sexual violence.

"We took to the last election a proposal for a royal commission, an independent inquiry into sexual abuse and violence in these communities, and we still think that that is something that needs to be addressed."

READ MORE: Family's message after five-year-old murdered

Taylor's comments came as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for calm after 400 people gathered outside Alice Springs Hospital last night, where 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis was taken after he was arrested by police.

Albanese said he understood the community's anger and frustration, but called for them to come together.

"It breaks your heart," he said of Kumanjayi Little Baby's death to reporters in Sydney.

"There's meetings there on the ground, as we speak right now, bringing together community leaders, the police, the health workers, the people at the hospital who had to deal with what occurred last night.

"We want to see the community come together, but we certainly understand people's anger and frustration and that was expressed."

Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy also called for calm earlier today, telling the community to allow police to undergo proper processes.

"There needs to be calm and there needs to be a proper process now in terms of this criminal investigation and it must not be jeopardised by foolishness in terms of the work that has to be done for police and by police to get this investigation done appropriately," she told the ABC.

READ MORE: Jacinta Price reveals she's aunt of NT girl believed to have been abducted

Independent senator and leader of the Blak Sovereign Movement, Lidia Thorpe, said it was a time of "deep grief" for her community and called for the government to address broad issues like extreme poverty and a lack of basic services and support.

She, however, warned against any interventionist approaches.

"Governments must do more to ensure communities have the resources and authority to determine their own solutions," she said in a statement. 

"Our families hold the answers and must be trusted and empowered to lead. What we do not need is a return to the interventionist approaches of the past."

Thorpe said the death of Kumanjayi Little Baby highlighted "serious failures" in how authorities respond to the domestic violence risk to Indigenous women and children.

She threw her support behind National Commissioner for Indigenous Children and Young People Sue-Anne Hunter's call for an investigation into NT Corrections.

"This was a known perpetrator. There are questions about how this could happen so soon after his release from custody," she said. 

For 24/7 crisis support run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, contact 13YARN (13 92 76).

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732)