Anthony Albanese denies Alice Springs child abuse warning as Senator Jacinta Price scoffs

Anthony Albanese has hit back after being accused of ignoring warnings that children were being returned to their sexual abusers in the Northern Territory.

The prime minister came under fire after opposition leader Peter Dutton claimed last week that Mr Albanese was made aware of the matter ‘last year’.

He said at a press conference in Alice Springs that it was “normally accepted” for young Indigenous victims to be sent back to live with their abusers.

Mr Albanese broke his silence on Monday night by rejecting the Liberal leader’s claim.

Indigenous Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa also accused Mr Albanese, his Labor colleagues and the ABC of a “dog act” and ignoring the issue in the region.

She unleashed her anger in a social media post endorsing an article by conservative pundit Andrew Bolt.

“The ‘dog act’ is the denial of the sexual abuse of Australia’s most marginalized children,” she wrote on Facebook on Monday.

“The Labor governments everywhere, (Patricia) Karvelas and her ABC want a voice in parliament as they ignore, undermine and deny the voices of victims of sexual abuse because they are Aboriginal children.

“If we had talked about child abuse in the Catholic Church, the tables would have been turned.”

“This is widespread gaslighting of our governments and their ABC.”

Mr Albanese was pressured on the 7.30am ABC programme, with host Sarah Ferguson questioning whether he had been made aware of the allegations.

“Peter Dutton says you have been made aware of abused children who have been returned to their abusers,” she said.

“This is a very serious accusation. The conclusion was that you did not act. Is that true?’

Mr. Albanese immediately closed the claim with a blunt response.

“No,” he said.

Harris asked if Mr. Dutton had “made that fact up.”

“I don’t take it for granted,” Mr. Albanese said.

He admitted that there ‘may have been a letter somewhere’ but insisted that this was the first he had heard of it and that Mr Dutton had not discussed any specific matter with him.

Mr Albanese said such allegations were a police matter as he accused Mr Dutton of scoring points.

“The tragedy here is that serious issues like child abuse, which Peter Dutton or myself or I hope any MP has a uniform aversion to, should not be used as a political issue,” he said.

“If there are allegations, they should be reported to the police.”

Senator Price, who accompanied Mr Dutton to Alice Springs, had previously expressed contempt at Mr Albanese’s denials that he was unaware of the plight of Indigenous children.

‘You are most welcome to come back to Alice Springs for a full Prime Ministerial brief!’ she wrote Monday.

‘Don’t you remember Peter Dutton inviting you back in October?

“Maybe you should stay a night or two….”

Her comment was a joke against Mr. Albanese and his whirlwind visit to Alice Springs in January.

The Prime Minister had flown out in response to public outcry over rampant crime before leaving a few hours later.

Mr Dutton claimed last week that children were ‘put back into the hands of the abuser’ as ‘normal use’.

“There’s nothing in Native culture that makes that acceptable,” Dutton said.

“Yet somehow it is accepted as normal here and we are destroying the lives of those young Indigenous children and that is unacceptable.

The prime minister must take responsibility. He was made aware of it last year.’

Labour’s Northern Territory Police Minister Kate Worden on Sunday accused Dutton and Senator Price of failing to report their repeated allegations of child abuse to police.

“If they want to make allegations like that, they have to come up with evidence… you can’t just claim these things and then walk away,” Ms Worden said.

‘This is classic ‘drop a bomb and walk away’ [scenario].’

Senator Price said she and Mr. Dutton referred to cases where the reporting had been made and known to Territory authorities.