Lawyers to ask for more time to find former detainees eligible for $35m class action settlement payment

Lawyers representing young people mistreated in NT youth detention will ask for more time to connect with former detainees eligible for part of a $35m settlement.

LAWYERS representing young people mistreated in NT youth detention will on Monday ask the Federal Court for more time to connect with former detainees eligible for a slice of the $35m compensation package.

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers want to push the current registration cut-off date of November 16 out to June next year to find more of the 1200 potential class action members.

Maurice Blackburn senior associate Kerry Palmer said more than a third of members had registered so far.

Ms Palmer said what happened to the young people was “horrific”, and those eligible for the payment deserve more time to register.

The NT government agreed to compensate youth detainees who were mistreated in Don Dale and other detention facilities. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“The young people who’ve registered with us are universally supportive of the settlement,” she said.

“They see it as an important recognition of the wrong that was done to them while they were in youth detention.

“Their greatest hope in this class action and settlement is that children in the Northern Territory never have to go through what they did.”

In July, the NT government agreed to compensate detainees held in the infamous Don Dale and Alice Springs youth detention centres between August 2006, and November 2017.

At $35m in compensation, it is thought to be the largest ever class action settlement the NT government has faced.

The amount paid to each person will vary depending on how long they were in detention, what happened to them, and how many people register for compensation.