A teenager has been charged with sexually assaulting a four-year-old child in a Northern Territory town, sparking renewed concerns for the safety of children in regional and remote communities.
Police said the 16-year-old male was due to appear in the Alice Springs Youth Court on Tuesday after being charged with sexually assaulting the child in a remote community.
Local mayor Steve Edgington said the remote community, southeast of Tennant Creek, was in shock over the alleged assault and the incident would deeply impact its residents.
"We believe the four-year-old has been taken to the Alice Springs hospital and we hope the child and family are receiving all the support they need," he said in a statement.
It comes after a 24-year-old man was charged with sexually assaulting a two-year-old girl at Tennant Creek last month.
That incident prompted an internal review of Territory Families and strict restrictions on the sale of alcohol in the town.
The review found authorities did not have systems in place to adequately assess the safety of children at risk.
A Tennant Creek community leader said the two assaults had contributed to a sense of hopelessness in the region.
"I get a feel, that there is an absolute sense of hopelessness in Tennant Creek and the region," Barb Shaw, general manager of the Anyinginyi local health network, told ABC radio.
She said the issue of overcrowding in homes was leading to an explosion of dysfunctional behaviour.
"One of the things we have always pushed for and are now at the point of pleading for is for the construction of new housing in Tennant Creek," she said.
The peak body for Indigenous health said the NT government needed to re-examine at the number of liquor licenses granted in the Territory.
"People must come before profits, the grog is killing our people and our children are exposed to the results of that every day," National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, chairman John Singer, said.
He said the sheer number of liquor outlets at roadhouses on highways and in the close towns was undermining efforts to restrict the sale of alcohol in places such as Ali Curung.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner said additional staff from the Territory Families department would be deployed to the area.
But Deputy Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said the government must work on long-term solutions.
"In our view that relates very strongly to housing and overcrowding, lack of supply and alcohol-related harm," Ms Finocchiaro said.
