Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There is a specific kind of silence that fills a space when a community carries their collective heartache. I rise to speak about a five-year-old girl. Her name was Kumanjayi Little Baby. She was a Warlpiri girl living at Old Timers, just outside Alice Springs. She loved the colour pink, and, just like so many of our families who love their children, she was loved, very loved, by her family. Grief does not stop at community boundaries, and so today this Senate extends its sympathies to her family, to her communities in Alice Springs and across Central Australia, and to the Warlpiri families and to the Gurindji families for whom this loss is just as real and just as close. While many questions remain, Kumanjayi Little Baby's family have asked for this moment not to be politicised.

Last week, Australians held vigils across the nation, wearing her favourite colour, pink. In Melbourne we gathered at the Aborigines Advancement League in Thornbury. At the league we had a smoking ceremony, dances and a poem. We held candles. But, importantly, we stood together, and within that quiet reflection lies a profound moral necessity—the refusal to look away. I carry that night into the chamber with me today. This Senate joins Kumanjayi Little Baby's family, First Nations leaders and community leaders in calling for calm and for respect, for the whole community to come together for sorry business.

Children are our most sacred gifts. They are the living breath of our ancestors and our future. The loss of Kumanjayi Little Baby isn't just a tragedy; it is a deep, spiritual ache that resonates through every one of us. We must hold space for this grief together, acknowledging the preciousness of a life lost and a heartache that remains. This cannot be another moment we grieve and forget. To her family and community, this chamber holds you, and your loss is witnessed here. To Kumanjayi Little Baby, this nation mourns you. Rest in the Dreaming, little one; you are carried in the hearts of many.