The Northern Territory government has again been forced to defend its response to the child protection crisis after the sexual assault of another Tennant Creek toddler known to welfare services.
The child was allegedly assaulted by a 50-year-old man on Friday afternoon, following the separate rape of a two-year-old girl in the troubled NT town in February.
The latest sexual assault prompted Prime Minister Scott Morrison to described it as "sickening".
"What's happened there in Tennant Creek makes your heart just cry," he told reporters in Townsville.
"These are the outcomes we want to avoid. These are the outcomes we want to stop.
"There is no more important priority than the children of our country."
The alleged perpetrator has faced court charged with indecently assaulting a child under 16, and has been remanded in custody.
NT Families Minister Dale Wakefield said while there was a "long road ahead" in child protection reforms, big steps were already being made.
"We have shown we are making significant improvements in how education, police, health and Territory Families all work together and we know if we continue to work in siloed ways alongside our non-government partners we are not going to get the outcomes the community expects," Ms Wakefield told reporters outside a forum for National Child Protection week in Darwin.
Critics including deputy opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro say the government has been too slow to implement recommendations of both a Royal Commission and Children's Commissioner Colleen Gwynne that criticised department staff for not putting the safety of children first.
However, Ms Wakefield said the new "one child, one case" IT system upgrade announced last week should enable different agencies to better access information about children being abused or neglected.
"It is about making sure workers have that balance between making sure they complete administrative process that keeps them accountable and also that their focus is totally on children, getting out of the office, working with families to make sure they are as safe as possible," she said.
She insisted more experienced workers were being placed in the Barkly region that includes Tennant Creek.
Of 324 at-risk children removed from NT families last year, 60 were from the Barkly region, she said.
A parliamentary hearing earlier in the year was told at least one child is sexually exploited or abused in the Territory each week.
The NT government will be dealing with a new federal Social Services Minister Paul Fletcher, who replaces Dan Tehan who had travelled with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull on a two-day trip to Tennant Creek in July in response to the crisis.
