Acting Children’s Commissioner Nicole Hucks announces investigation into Alice Springs transfers to Don Dale
The Children’s commissioner has launched an investigation into the transfer of Centralian kids to Darwin after the government refused to hand over details.
Alice Springs
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The children’s watchdog has announced an investigation into the forced movement of Alice Springs children 1500km from family and support services.
On Wednesday, acting Children’s Commissioner Nicole Hucks announced her office would undertake an inquiry into the adequacy of planning and implementation in the decision to transfer young people from Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre to Darwin’s Don Dale.
Ms Hucks said the Alice Springs centre had been running at reduced capacity since July 7 due to renovations at the centre.
She said as a result Centralian kids were being taken to the previously decommissioned old Berrimah prison, commonly referred to as Don Dale.
“The acting Commissioner is obliged to ensure the safety and wellbeing of young people in the Northern Territory,” Ms Hucks said.
“It is critical that the needs of young people are still met during their transition.”
Ms Hucks said she launched the own-initiative investigation due to “unmet requests for further information and critical transition detail”.
Ms Hucks said she had informed the relevant ministers and agencies of her decision to start this investigation.
It comes after a Supreme Court legal battle failed to stop the transfer of children in May.
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency and Congress filed an injunction on behalf of four children, arguing the transfers would separate vulnerable young people from their families and support networks.
Justice John Burns rejected their application on May 26, after hearing the transfers were needed due to overcrowding at Alice Springs centre.
Territory Families data from the week of the court hearing show there was an average of 22 kids in the Alice Springs centre that week and 44 children in Don Dale.
The Alice Springs centre redevelopment has been a long-awaited promise following the 2017 Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory.
In 2018 then-Territory Families Minister Dale Wakefield said the Alice Springs centre was “not fit for purpose”, and should be replaced with a new centre.
However in March 2020, that plan was revised with funding to redesign the existing centre.
The latest budget has committed $14.1m to the fit-out, remedial works and upgrades at the Alice Springs Youth Justice Centre.
Territory Families Minister Kate Worden said any transfers of children would “be informed by operational demands and take into consideration the needs of young people”.
Ms Worden said any movements would be managed in “close consultation” with their family, legal representatives and service providers.
She said the upgrades were part of the recommendations of the Royal Commission, to make the centre “more fit-for-purpose”.
“Completing this work is a priority of this Government to improve the level of care for children in detention and support the role out of our Model of Care.”
However, independent Araluen MLA Robyn Lambley has previously condemned the “hideously long redevelopment process” which meant there had been “zero improvement made to the sleeping, eating and learning facilities for the kids in more than a decade”.
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