Youth court being pushed through Parliament mean public will lose the right to know about any proceedings

SHUTTING out the public from youth court proceedings must not be allowed to go ahead. It means the public will have no right to know anything about the proceedings and any journalist reporting on them can go to jail

If important stories published by NT news organisations in the past were instead published after proposed amendments are passed by the NT’s Parliament, the journalists responsible could end up in jail for up to a year

SHUTTING out the public from youth court proceedings makes no sense.

Under changes being pushed through parliament, the public will have no right to know anything about court proceedings which involve a child, except in extremely narrow circumstances.

Keeping courts open – even youth court – is essential for transparency and to ensure there is sufficient scrutiny on the judiciary.

Other jurisdictions recognise this and have provisions to protect the public’s right to know while also ensuring kids aren’t punished for the rest of their lives for mistakes made in their youth.

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These jurisdictions prohibit the publication of any information which would identify the child in question, but still allow for media and other members of the public to enter youth court.

There is no reason similar provisions can’t work here.

The importance of scrutiny of the youth court was illustrated in the very recent past.

The NT News and the ABC both published stories which highlighted concerns about the behaviour in youth court of a Territory judge.

An investigation prompted in part by that reporting found he had engaged in “improper conduct”.

If those important stories were published after these amendments are passed, the journalists responsible would end up in jail for up to a year.

That’s not democracy.

These amendments must be scrapped.