First Residential Youth Justice Facility opens doors with aim to ’reduce cycle of reoffending’

It was sold as a centrepiece of the government’s crime and justice budget splash, and now it can be revealed how the new live-in facilities for young offenders will work.

The first of four residential youth justice facilities will open its doors this week as part of a $44 million budget splash to address the Territory’s youth crime problem.

One of the Aboriginal-owned businesses brought in to drive the scheme said it would allow mentors to “work with kids over a 24-hour period” and show offenders “they have opportunities to make their lives better”.

The Tennant Creek centre will house up to six youths from this week onward, but the total number of openings will grow to 16 next month with another facility opening in Darwin.

The NT government’s May budget poured $570 million into crime and justice over the next five years, and Chief Minister Eva Lawler touted the facilities as a way to show offenders

“that there are consequences for crime while delivering training and skills to Territory kids”.

Chris Tedcastle (second left) with staff and students of First Step Development Enterprises, an Aboriginal-owned teaching and rehabilitation service which will run the Darwin facility. Picture: Supplied

“Young Territorians who are part of the justice system will be held accountable for their actions and we will ensure they get proper education and training so they have the best chance of turning their life around and getting out of crime and into the workforce,” Ms Lawler told the NT News.

The Youth Court will have the power to place offenders in the program where they will take part in year-round education and training while on bail.

If bail conditions are broken, offenders will return to the courts and be placed in a youth detention centre.

The Darwin facility will be run by training provider First Step Development Enterprises, an Aboriginal-owned business co-founded by Ngangi Wumurri tradesman Chris Tedcastle.

Mr Tedcastle founded it in 2019 and said he was driven to “make noise around (youth justice)” after revelations of cruelty toward inmates at Don Dale youth prison.

The Darwin residential youth justice facility opens in July and will include teaching, living and outdoor spaces for young offenders. Picture: Supplied

Picture: Supplied

He said offenders would be given formal schooling and work site visits, health and lifestyle guidance, as well as time for leisure activities under a “firm but fair” approach.

“It’s a structured environment and we wanted create something close to a normal home life,” Mr Tedcastle, 42, told the NT News.

“We want children to come out with a higher level of understanding of themselves as individuals, to be able to make the right decisions and understand the consequences of making the wrong ones.

“They don’t realise the opportunity is there because they don’t think anyone would consider them to become a carpenter, or an electrician, or a builder, but that’s where the need is across the nation and there are plenty of opportunities to take a pathway out of the status quo.

“Everyone wants to be able to support programs like these and it’s just about connecting the dots ... It’s a collective approach between the Education Department, Territory Families, ourselves, and the rest of the community.”

Last year, 754 youths were charged with criminal offences in the Territory, representing 8.5 per cent of all offenders.

Two more facilities will be built in Katherine and Alice Springs, for which the government is currently seeking tenders.