Malcolm Turnbull plans royal commission into NT youth centres after damming Four Corners report

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull will set up a royal commission into the Northern Territory’s youth detention system after a damning Four Corners report. WARNING: Graphic.

THE Turnbull government will set up a royal commission into the Northern Territory’s youth detention system after damning footage of teen inmates being abused at one centre was aired.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed he has spoken with NT Chief Minister Adam Giles about setting up the inquiry.

It will be established as soon as possible, Mr Turnbull told ABC radio today.

“We will get to the bottom of this swiftly and we will identify the lessons that need to be learned,” Mr Turnbull said.

“We have here a very troubling state of affairs where clearly there has been mistreatment of young people.”

A teen inmate was strapped and shackled into a chair with a hood over his head according to the shocking footage. Picture: ABC TV

A young boy is held by his neck by a guard in a NT youth detention centre, according to an explosive Four Corners report. Picture: ABC TV

The government was yet to choose a commissioner but the prime minister said it was likely to be a retired judge.

It came after ABC TV’s Four Corners last night showed footage of teens at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in 2014 and again in 2015 in the old Berrimah adult prison that replaced Don Dale.

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In one video, a 17-year-old is hooded, shackled to a “mechanical device” chair and left alone for two hours.

“They’re being shackled to chairs a la Guantanamo Bay,” barrister John Lawrence told the ABC.

In another, one of the guards is heard saying “I’ll pulverise the f...er” as a young man in isolation was banging at windows.

Mr Giles said while guards at detention centres had certain powers to do a difficult job, those powers had limits.

“The Northern Territory government does not resile from its tough approach to those who don’t want to respect others people’s property or safety,” Mr Giles said in a statement.

“But questions were raised about what is going on in our juvenile detention system that date back to 2010.”

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Lawyers and human rights activists have called for the facility to be shut down for good and called on the federal government to intervene.