Family members of a two-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by an adult man have said Northern Territory welfare services were repeatedly notified of concerns about her safety and that of her younger brother.

NT Police have charged a 24-year-old man with allegedly sexually assaulting the toddler in Tennant Creek late on Friday night. The girl was taken to hospital in Alice Springs before being transferred to Adelaide Women’s and Children’s hospital on Saturday. She has now been discharged from hospital.

Members of the girl’s family told Guardian Australia that welfare services – operating under the Territory Families department – received several notifications in recent weeks that the children were at risk.

“We know there was a number of notifications given to Territory Families in the last two months and we believe they were never acted on,” one said.

On Wednesday the NT government confirmed an investigation into the Territory Families case on the child, as well as other children with multiple notifications.

It is understood the children lived with their mother, but not their father, who has spent time in prison.

A spokeswoman for Territory Families, which has an office in Tennant Creek, confirmed the family was known to the department which “has engaged with the family to provide a range of programs and connect them to family support services”.

“An incident such as this must be immediately investigated by the child abuse taskforce, made up of members of the police and Territory Families. This occurred in this instance.”

In 2016-17, Territory Families provided funding to four women’s shelters, including one in Tennant Creek, to provide services including critical intervention for victims of domestic violence.

The Northern Territory government and authorities are attempting to address a long-running crisis in child protection and juvenile detention, highlighted by the recent royal commission.

Several public hearings over the course of 10 months heard evidence that previous iterations of the Territory Families department had failed to handle an overwhelming caseload of at-risk children and notifications of concern, and that many were written off as “unsubstantiated” without investigation.

Among the recommendations from the commission’s final report were the establishment of a wide network of family support centres and an overhaul of the out-of-home care and home-based care systems.

The acting chief minister, Nicole Manison, the police commissioner, Reece Kershaw, and Territory Families executives flew down to Tennant Creek on Wednesday morning.



The girl’s family said political leaders had to do better in helping the community.

“They can’t just rely on community members to do it. They have the infrastructure to bring people together and do something about it.”

On Wednesday morning, Manison told media that systemic problems were behind the too many tragedies in the NT:

“We have got alcohol involved. We have got poor housing, poor education.”

Manison said she learned of the alleged incident on Tuesday.



The NT chief minister, Michael Gunner, told local radio he learned of the alleged incident on Tuesday.

Gunner said Tennant Creek was facing a spike in crime and social issues, and police operations were under way to respond.

He questioned why the national response to the alleged crime had been muted.

“I’m wondering, is it a question of politician’s language. I go to Canberra, we have the Closing the Gap discussions … ‘Closing the Gap’ is not a phrase that captures the alleged assault of a two-year-old.”

“Is it something with our language that we’re not conveying properly to people outside the Territory what we have to face?”

Asked why police didn’t notify the public until they were contacted by media, Gunner said he had asked the commissioner and was told protocols went to the communities at risk and information that was needed from communities.

NT police did not release any information about the incident until they were contacted by media. Now the matter is before the courts a spokeswoman said they were unable to comment.

The alleged perpetrator faced court on Tuesday and Wednesday, and was refused bail. He will appear before the court via videolink from Alice Springs prison in April.