CLP challenges Gunner to adopt Opposition’s ready-to-go youth crime laws

Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro has slammed the government’s latest plan to tackle youth crime as a hastily written “puff piece”, as the CLP seeks to differentiate its proposed laws from Labor’s

OPPOSITION Leader Lia Finocchiaro has slammed the government’s latest plan to tackle youth crime as a hastily written “puff piece”, as the CLP seeks to differentiate its proposed laws from Labor’s.

The government’s package of new laws, which include revoking bail if children reoffend and expanding the list of crimes that make it hard for kids to get bail, was unveiled today after significant pressure from the public, particularly in Alice Springs, over the issue of youth crime.

Ms Finocchiaro, saying the government was “governing by press release”, issued a challenge to Chief Minister Michael Gunner and his team to support CLP-written youth crime and bail legislation.

“If they don’t come in and support our bill tomorrow in the parliament, they are sending a message to Territorians that they are solely responsible for every victim of repeat offending that happens from tomorrow onwards,” she said.

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“Today’s announcement by the Gunner Government is humiliating political spin and lacks basic detail, let alone any substance.

“It has clearly been cobbled together in the last week, in a desperate attempt to salvage what little dignity Labor has left following A Current Affair’s airing of the Chief Minister’s crime shame.”

The CLP is set to introduce its version of tightened bail laws in parliament on Wednesday, with the bill to include mandatory electronic monitoring for every repeat offender if they get bail and reintroducing breach of bail as an offence.

Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro outside of parliament. Picture: Che Chorley

The government’s latest set of law changes will be ready in May sitting of parliament.

The proposal from each side of parliament to tackle to youth crime share broad similarities, in that both sets of measures focus on tightening bail conditions and increasing the use of electronic monitoring in a bid to crackdown on recidivist offenders.

The CLP’s plan to introduce a presumption against bail for recidivists offenders would also impact adults, including repeat domestic violence perpetrators.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner has denied suggestions the government’s policy is kneejerk, saying they had flagged stricter bail conditions and monitoring before the 2020 election.

In that pre-election proposal, NT Labor flagged “increasing compliance checking of youth bail to reduce repeat offending, through additional staff in police and Territory Families” alongside “increased funding for alcohol and other drugs testing”.

The government is now proposing measures that will see them walk away from recommendations of the royal commission into youth detention, including throwing kids into remand if they breach bail.

The plan has drawn criticism from human rights and not-for-profit organisations including Amnesty Australia, Save the Children, and Jesuit Social Services.

Amnesty Australia’s Rodney Dillon called the government’s plan a “callous, racist legislative crackdown in search of a problem”, saying the laws would condemn children to the “quicksand of the youth justice system”.

Jesuit Social Services NT general manager John Adams said it was “deeply disappointing” that the government was turning its back on the royal commission in favour of “populist measures that don’t work”.

“The outcome of this posturing to appear ‘tough on crime’ will only result in vulnerable children being exposed to the youth detention system – which means they are more likely to reoffend than children who are supported in the community instead,” Mr Adams said.