Advocates ‘so disappointed’ with progress on youth justice

LEADING Aboriginal rights advocates are “cross and upset” about the lack of progress by the NT government in the almost four years since the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children

Danila Dilba chief executive Olga Havnen said she is “cross and upset.” Picture: Keri Megelus

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LEADING Aboriginal rights advocates are “cross and upset” about the lack of progress by the Northern Territory government in the almost four years since the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children.

In a webinar held by the Law Council of Australia on Wednesday, North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency principal legal officer David Woodroffe, Danila Dilba chief executive Olga Havnen, and prominent advocate for First Nations Australians Mick Gooda, discussed the progress since the handing down of the commission’s recommendations.

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Mr Woodroffe acknowledged that while there had been some progress, including a drop in the number of children in detention and numbers of arrests, there was still a long way to go.

“What the data and research shows is the situation in the NT is (that) Aboriginal children are still grossly over-represented in our youth detention centres,” he said.

Ms Havnen said she was yet to see the “systemic change” she anticipated and remained “pretty cross and upset” about the lack of progress.

“In the beginning there was major reform, there were significant amendments made to the youth justice act,” she said.

The Royal Commission was called after a Four Corners report exposed mistreatment of children in Don Dale.

“So many of these young people in Don Dale today come from the child protection system. It seems to me there are two systems that fundamentally failed these children, and there seems to be very little effort on the part of government to do anything in a meaningful way to remedy that.”

She also said the initial proposal to rebuild Don Dale next to the adult prison was “somewhat staggering”.

A new Don Dale centre has still not been built.

Mr Gooda criticised the NT government’s lack of action on raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12, as was recommended.

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When asked about the criticism, Chief Minister Michael Gunner said youth justice was “a really big issue” that “cannot be solved overnight”.

Minister for Territory Families Dale Wakefield said: “We have spearheaded the most significant child protection reform in Territory history since the royal commission recommendations came down less than two and a half years ago.”