Pressure mounts on Wakefield

TERRITORY Families Minister Dale Wakefield has failed and her position is borderline untenable, according to NT Police Association boss Paul McCue

TERRITORY Families Minister Dale Wakefield has failed and her position is borderline untenable, according to NT Police Association boss Paul McCue.

Writing in the Sunday Territorian today, Mr McCue gave Ms Wakefield a spray for her “lack of leadership” in the wake of a series of crises in the youth justice space.

Mr McCue took aim at Ms Wakefield following a riot at Don Dale earlier this month, in which about a dozen kids caused eight hours of chaos at the notorious jail-turned-youth detention centre.

The siege was quelled only after highly trained Tactical Response Group cops joined the fray and tear gas was deployed.

Mr McCue said Ms Wakefield’s decision to then move detainees to the police watch house was a “punch in the guts” for officers “left to wear the stress, the kicks, the punches and the fallout once again”.

In response, Ms Wakefield said Mr McCue’s comments were unfair and didn’t take into account the legacy of failures from previous governments.

“We disagree with him and his comments do nothing to help fix the youth justice system,” she said.

Mr McCue’s criticism comes after Ms Wakefield and the Gunner Government congratulated themselves on a job well done in implementing the recommendations of the royal commission into youth justice.

In a self-written report card, the Government gave itself a tick for ceasing “operational use” of tear gas in detention centres, despite the recent events at Don Dale.

Prominent Darwin lawyer Jared Sharpe said that evaluation didn’t reflect reality.

“Anyone who works in the system would say it’s still just as broken as it has been for many years,” he said.

Mr Sharpe said the Government had underestimated the size and complexity of reforming youth justice. The lack of progress on relatively straightforward measures, such as a lack of a concrete plan to replace Don Dale, the continued use of isolation and of the centre’s high security unit were “disheartening”, he said.

Mr Sharpe also expressed worry about the escalating rhetoric from politicians against kids in contact with the youth justice system and warned against a return to Giles-era vilification. The day after the riot, Chief Minister Michael Gunner referred to detainees as “incredibly hardened, tough kids”.

“I think our politicians have to be really careful not to demonise the kids in the system. We need this to be a politics free zone,” he said.

Ms Wakefield acknowledged there was more work to be done.

Territory Families has just released a tender for a $66.9 million child protection IT system.