NT Parliament was busy Tuesday debating the CLP Government’s controversial changes to child protection laws which the government says will put safety first for all Territory children, but comes amid protests outside the chamber and an extraordinary rebuke from nearly every other child protection minister in the country, while a Victorian Senator called for the Federal Government to intervene and override any legislative changes passed.

Critics have argued the reforms will dilute the Aboriginal child placement principle, with fears it will lead to another stolen generation, which has been rejected by CLP Minister for Child Protection Robyn Cahill.

But on Monday, Federal Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek, along with child protection ministers in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory issued a joint statement raising concern that the NT’s proposed reforms were being passed against objections by Aboriginal stakeholders.

The statement described the reforms as a “regrettable divergence” from the Territory’s pledged national commitment to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle.

“[We] unequivocally affirm that the [Aboriginal child placement principle] and its requirement for connection to community and culture is supportive of, rather than at odds with, the safety, welfare and wellbeing of Aboriginal children and young people,” the statement said.

Only Queensland did not participate in the statement.

Chief executive of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Care (SNAICC) Catherine Liddle said the statement from nearly all other jurisdictions and the Federal Government was “virtually unprecedented and shows just how concerning” the NT’s Every Child Matters Bill is, which “should be setting off alarm bells…that they have got things horribly wrong”.

“It’s clear that the Territory is becoming a pariah state when it comes to the care and safety of Aboriginal children,” Ms Liddle said.

“As a proud Territorian, I feel deeply ashamed of how the NT Government is treating some of the most vulnerable children and families across the state.

“If the NT Government truly cared about the safety of children they would be doing what the evidence, and the sector has been calling for – investing in family supports and early interventions, before families are in crisis and children are removed.”

Ms Liddle added that children “do best when they grow up with family”, calling on the CLP to listen to experts and their state and federal counterparts to drop “this harmful legislation and invest in supporting families so children can thrive”.

Ms Cahill rejected the criticisms from the other jurisdictions and said “what they think is right for their jurisdiction is entirely up to them”.

“Not one of them asked why we felt that it was so important to put safety first,” she said.

“And to be honest with you, that they don’t think that that’s important is something that I truly find incomprehensible.”

The CLP has regularly made the argument that it is putting the safety of the child first, but it was established that the safety of children is already the paramount consideration in the department.

Ms Cahill earlier on Tuesday said the reforms would not dilute the child placement principle.

“The absolutely critical component in this legislation is it in no way reduces the obligation of our government or the department to make sure that children stay connected to their family, to their culture, to their country,” she said.

“What it says is, don’t wait till it’s too late, don’t wait until we have a disaster. Don’t wait until a child is being subjected to years and years of harm and abuse and neglect before you step in to do something.

“There is absolutely no reduction in the threshold for removal of the child. If anything, it has increased the obligation of the department to do the work up front, to actually work with these families and say, what is happening? How can we help? How can we fix this?”

Outside Parliament, dozens of protesters rallied against the amendments to the legislation.

“The bill is the latest in a pattern of legislative reforms introduced by the NT Government over the past two years, in which the government fails to consult with stakeholders and legislates despite sustained opposition from Aboriginal leaders and organisations,” said NAAJA chief executive Ben Grimes at the event.

“This is not good law making, this is not good decision making, this is not good leadership.”

Other organisations at the protest, including the NLC, North Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Service, Aboriginal Housing NT and Danila Dilba called for the Commonwealth to “hold the NT Government to account” over the proposed legislation.

Victorian independent Senator Lidia Thorpe called on the Federal Government to use their constitutional powers to intervene and override the legislation the CLP intends to pass.

“No one is arguing the child ‘protection’ system in the Northern Territory doesn’t need to be overhauled. It is causing enormous harm to our families while failing to keep our children safe,” Ms Thorpe said.

“But this bill ignores the real problems. The problems we see are driven by chronic workforce shortages, overcrowded housing, underfunded early intervention, inadequate family support services and a system that responds far too late.

“This bill is based on racist dog-whistling, and ignores the fact that the NT Government is already failing to uphold the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle.”

Independent Member for Mulka Yingiya Guyula said in Parliament on Tuesday the child protection reforms were the worst legislation he has seen in his 10 years in Parliament.

“The public inquiry heard over and over again that this bill will not make children safer. Culture and safety are connected and cannot be separated,” he said.

“Removing kids from their language, kin and country will cause widespread harm. On the face of it, this bill looks like forced assimilation and another Stolen Generation. No one wants the trauma and destruction that comes with these things.”

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said while the legislative changes are controversial and that people are upset, “it is the right thing to do”.

“We are putting the right of a child to be safe first and above all else,” she said.

The government used its numbers to pass the legislation late Tuesday night.

“Tonight we didn’t just say every child matters – we put it into law,” Ms Cahill said in a statement after the bill passed.

“For too long, children were failed by a system that acted too late. These reforms fix that.

“We are intervening earlier, backing families to turn things around and keeping Aboriginal children connected to kin and culture where it is safe to do so.”