The Northern Territory's police minister says the deaths of a 30-year-old Indigenous woman and her infant child in an alleged domestic violence incident "should be all over the news" and she is "heartbroken that it's not."
The bodies of a man, woman and baby were discovered on Sunday at an outstation, 25 kilometres north of Alice Springs.
NT Police initially reported that the woman's age was 40, rather than 30.
Police have called the "horrific" deaths a domestic violence incident and said a gun was found nearby, however they have not confirmed whether or not the gun was used to kill those involved, or if officers were investigating the deaths as a murder suicide.
Police Minister Kate Worden, who is also the minister for domestic violence, could not confirm if the man involved was the perpetrator but said it was an "absolute tragedy" and involved the death of "an Indigenous woman and her child".
Reiterating her calls for the territory's share of the national domestic violence funding pool to be calculated on need instead of population, she said "we can't hide this stuff."
'We have the capability to stop this'
Ms Worden said too often the nation did not grieve the deaths of Indigenous women in the same way it grieved other deaths.
"I believe this is one reason we don't get the funding that we need," she said.
"We have the capability to stop this. We have the capability as a community to say no more to this. But we need to work together and we need more funding."
The Northern Territory experiences the highest rates of domestic and family violence of any jurisdiction in Australia, and domestic violence accounts for more than 60 per cent of NT Police call outs.
According to NT Government data, Indigenous women in Australia experience some of the highest rates of violence of any population in the world.
Ms Worden said there were other children "related to this incident" that "weren't at the place at the time."
Territory Families said the infant was not in their care at the time of the incident but the family was known to the welfare body.
Alice Springs based domestic family and sexual violence researcher for ANU, Chay Brown, said it was imperative that the details of the incident be released as soon as possible.
"Current guidelines ask media to – where legally possible – name acts of violence," she said.
Dr Brown said this was important because it allowed the nation to "come together and grieve" while also sending a clear message that "the community does not tolerate acts violence."
She said providing the whole picture was also important because it helped the public understand domestic violence deaths "are not one off acts of random violence" but are instead "predictable and therefore preventable."
Deaths should be attracting more national attention
Noongar Human Rights Lawyer Hannah McGlade said it was "very concerning" the "horrific" deaths of a 30-year-old woman and baby were not attracting national attention.
"We should be really publicly grieving, we should be publicly angered every time another woman loses her life in Australia, and it's particularly important following the deaths of Indigenous women" she said.
NPY Women’s Council has estimated that Aboriginal women in Central Australia are around 60 times more likely to be victims of domestic homicide than non-Aboriginal women.
Dr McGlade, who is also an associate professor at Curtin University, said the demographic "experiences the highest rates of murder in the country".
Dr McGlade regularly addresses these statistics as a member of the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues and has co-authored a detailed case-study on the topic.
"We are calling it Indigenous femicide," she said.
Dr McGlade said media attention was vital in ensuring systems and perpetrators were held to account, and to send a message that "every women's life is valuable."
"So, we want the attention."
According to Counting Dead Women, at least 22 women have been killed in Australia this year and earlier this week, a 33 year old woman died in a family violence incident near Katherine.
Report being prepared for the coroner
Northern Territory police have again declined to respond to a series of detailed questions posed by the ABC about the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the woman and infant at a property north of Alice Springs.
Police have not been able to confirm whether or not anyone involved in the incident had a history of domestic violence, whether or if the gun found near the scene was registered.
Ms Worden said she respected police processes and "details" were "not required" for this story to be of national concern.
The identities of those involved have not been made public.
In a statement, Acting Commander Mark Greive said a report was being prepared for the coroner.
"Investigations into this tragedy are ongoing," the statement said.
