Darwin Youth Detention Centre at Holtze to accept first Don Dale detainees in October
Detainees of the notorious Don Dale Youth Detention Centre will begin transitioning to a new, $130m purpose-built facility at Holtze in the coming months – but the announcements contain a sting in the tail for taxpayers.
Northern Territory
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Detainees of the notorious Don Dale Youth Detention Centre will begin transitioning to a new, $130m purpose-built facility at Holtze in the coming months.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler and Youth Minister Ngaree Ah Kit were among those who toured the soon-to-be-completed Darwin Youth Detention Centre at Willard Rd, Holtze, on Tuesday.
According to the government, the build is now “substantially complete,” with Don Dale detainees – there were 16 of them at the time of writing – to begin transitioning to the new facility in October.
The new facility features 44 beds split across four units, classrooms, medical and visitor rooms, a low sensory chill-out room, and recreation and exercise areas, such as a covered basketball court and an indoor half-court.
The facility is also equipped with state-of-the art security features such as contemporary CCTV, body scan and digital access technology, as well as anti-climb external perimeter fencing to keep young people, staff, and the community safe, the government said in a statement.
Education programs that focus on providing work-readiness training and practical skills will be delivered by qualified teachers, while GP, dental, medical specialist and mental health support services will also be made available.
However, Tuesday’s announcement contained a sting in the tail for Territory taxpayers, with the revelation the new facility – which was originally due for completion by 2022 – would come at a cost of $130m, not the $70m originally forecast.
Ms Lawler said she believed Territorians understood the world had entered an inflationary environment post-Covid, and that a survey of Australia’s major infrastructure projects currently under way would uncover few that were meeting their allocated budget.
She said the new youth detention centre’s completion would help draw a line under a dark chapter in the Territory’s history, which led to a 2016 Royal Commission.
“When this facility is opened, I don’t want to hear the name Don Dale ever again in the Northern Territory,” Ms Lawler said.
The new facility is expected to require about 118 employees, a significant proportion of which will be made up of redeployed Don Dale workers.
Territory Families, Housing and Communities chief executive Emma White said the department had been undertaking “really intensive ongoing recruitment programs” over the past couple of years to ensure there were enough youth justice officers to man the Territory’s two youth detention centres and three (soon to be four) residential youth justice facilities.
Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro slammed the government for allowing nine years to elapse between its commitment to shut Don Dale and the actual closure.
“This is a government that is all talk, no action, and the fact that they haven’t been able to deliver something as simple as a new youth detention facility shows that this government doesn’t have a plan to drive down crime, it doesn’t have a plan for corrections or to make the Territory safe,” she said.
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