Close Don Dale protesters hold rally on five-year anniversary of Royal Commission
Close Don Dale advocates say they are sick of reports into youth justice and are pushing for the Northern Territory Government to roll out all of the royal commission recommendations.
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The brutality, abuse and hopelessness that inspired the nation to hold the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children are still alive five years on, justice reform advocates say.
Protesters held demonstrations in Darwin’s CBD on Thursday, calling for the 227 recommendations from the bombshell $70m inquiry to be properly enacted on the fifth anniversary of the findings being released.
The Territory Labor government accepted all 227 recommendations from the royal commission, but just 174 are currently listed as complete, with some of those either rejected or only partially implemented.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said this week the government had “transformed youth justice”.
Close Don Dale advocate Natalie Hunter said despite claims of reform, “nothing has been addressed”.
“How many bloody reports do we need to have in the Northern Territory?,” Ms Hunter asked a crowd at Raintree Park during a protest on Thursday.
“This is why our children are in crisis in the Northern Territory.”
Gurindji Elder and Aboriginal advocate Josie Crawshaw said the solutions were there, but required political leadership, funding and for the Territory to overcome widespread “indifference”.
“This is not a different system. They really have not invested properly in this and taken this seriously,” Ms Crawshaw said.
“It’s Aboriginal kids that are (there). I think a war has been on those children from the get go,” she said.
Larrakia Elder and former prison guard Eric Fejo called for alternatives to detention and for earlier interventions including increasing school enrolments.
Mr Fejo said 94 per cent of children in NT youth detention and 86 per cent of the adult prison population were Aboriginal.
“What do these figures say about the Northern Territory and the so called justice system?”
“The big invisible issue for Aboriginal political leadership in the NT is a high incarceration rate of our people.”
“How are we going to exercise self determination in our communities, if huge numbers of our people are spending time in prison and not learning on how to be leaders?”
Amnesty International Australia Indigenous Rights coordinator Rodney Dillon, at the rally, called for more funding to diversion programs, not prison facilities, to help “the most voiceless people in this country”.
“The first thing you do when you build a jail, you want to fill it up to justify it. That’s exactly what they’re going to do,” Mr Dillon said.
“We’ve got a government who says they care for Aboriginal people, but I’ve got my doubts.
“Some of these kids who are locked up for very little may end up in that system for the rest of their life.
“When a kid is 10 years of age and goes into a prison, guess where he’s going to be when he’s 20?
“Guess where he’s going to be when he’s 30. It doesn’t change.”
Garrawa woman and Stolen Generation survivor Barbara Nasir said the legacy of racism, discrimination and the stolen generation were alive in the families of many children in youth detention.
“It’s a history that will never go away,” Ms Nasir said.
“And so when I see and hear of these young people who are locked up in Don Dale – this is not right. “
“We don’t lock them away and forget about them.
“They need to know there is hope.”
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Originally published as Close Don Dale protesters hold rally on five-year anniversary of Royal Commission
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