CLP forced to backflip after repeated digs at NT Deputy Chief Minister Chansey Paech over ‘Jailing is Failing’ T-shirt

Just 48 hours after the Opposition Leader took another jab at Paech’s slogan T-shirt, her team has backflipped to say they do, in fact, think ‘jailing is failing’. HAVE YOUR SAY.

Opposition leader and shadow Attorney-General Steve Edgington say jailing is not failing - but their team don’t necessarily agree. Picture: Supplied.

The Country Liberal Party has performed a stunning backflip to say ‘jailing is failing’, a week after decrying Attorney-General Chansey Paech for wearing the slogan on a T-shirt.

“Yes, I do think jailing is failing,” Deputy Opposition Leader Gerard Maley said on Thursday, contradicting repeated calls from CLP leader Lia Finocchiaro that a ‘jailing is failing’ ideology was behind Labor’s “failures on crime”.

Shadow Attorney-General Steve Edgington last week tabled a picture of Mr Paech wearing a ‘Jailing is Failing’ shirt to parliament, asking: “Is this why Labor continues to put serious violent offenders back onto the street?”

Tabled to parliament: NT Deputy Chief Minister Chansey Paech in a Jailing is Failing T-shirt.

Shadow Tourism Minister Marie-Clare Boothby similarly criticised Mr Paech during Question Time on Tuesday, saying: “We know you are ideologically opposed to consequences for criminals, we’ve seen you proudly wearing your jailing is failing T-shirt”.

Ms Finocchiaro that same day said Mr Paech was “more focused on parading around wearing jailing is failing shirts and weakening laws than he is about caring about Territorians”.

The about-face from her team just 48 hours later came after Namatjira MLA Bill Yan, the former head of Alice Springs Correctional Centre, was presented with statements he made in parliament two years ago.

“I listened to the Attorney-General yesterday with great interest. He said that jailing is failing, which I wholeheartedly agree with. After 18 years in the justice sector and working in Corrections, I agree,” Mr Yan said in October 2022.

Deputy Opposition Leader Gerard Maley and Shadow Treasurer Bill Yan said they agreed jailing is failing, in a stunning about-face after repeated digs at Chansey Paech for wearing the slogan on a T-shirt. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Mr Yan on Thursday said his position had not changed.

“The Attorney-General and the Labor government have absolutely failed in this space,” he said.

“They knew that prison numbers were increasing when they came into government. “Corrections went to them and tried to address this issue, and for eight long years the Territory government has done nothing about the increasing prisoner numbers.

“They put nothing in place to deal with issues before they come to the courts, no alternatives to custody around sentencing out in communities, no alternatives to work camps.

“Now, at a point in time when the correctional system is under immense pressure, with short staffing, and the highest (prisoner) numbers ever seen in the Territory, they’re finally doing something about it just before an election.”

Mr Maley denied any rift within the party on the issue.

“Yes, I do think jailing is failing because we know that over 75 per cent of the prison population has reoffended,” he said.

“There is absolutely not a split in the CLP, we have got a solid corrections policy ... we are absolutely agreed that the rights of victims should come ahead of the rights of offenders.”

The last two NT Police Commissioners have publicly stated that the Territory “can’t arrest our way out” of the current crime crisis, while the current Corrections Commissioner agreed during a coronial inquest that the NT’s Aboriginal imprisonment rate was a “national tragedy”.

Paech defends ‘Jailing is Failing’ T-shirt amid record prisoner numbers

May 21: Northern Territory Deputy Chief Minister Chansey Paech has defended wearing a ‘Jailing is Failing’ T-shirt, offering to autograph a photo of himself flaunting the slogan after the Opposition tabled it to parliament.

It comes in the context of Labor promising more prisons and record funding to police and corrections, while crime rates continue to soar and the number of people locked up in the NT remains at historic highs.

Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said the Chief Minister was not focused on making the Territory safe.

“Instead what she’s done is appoint her deputy leader as someone who doesn’t believe that new prisons should be built, and wanders around wearing T-shirts saying ‘Jailing is Failing’,” she said earlier this month.

“Territorians don’t think jailing is failing, and in fact, we need to make our streets safer, give police more powers, and strengthen the laws so that Territorians can live in peace and quiet like they deserve.”

On Thursday, Shadow Attorney-General Steve Edgington tabled the picture of Mr Paech during Question Time, asking: “Is this why Labor continues to put serious violent offenders back onto the street?”

Mr Paech told parliament Territory Labor had “invested significantly” into corrections.

“When we came to government the CLP’s position of jailing was failing the Northern Territory,” he said.

“We are getting offenders ready to work when they are in prison and for when they are released, we are opening up additional facilities in the Northern Territory for women so that women are no longer sitting inside male prisons – having those facilities stood up for correctional services is important.

“There is funding for training and education programs. Changing the behaviour of people when they are in prison is crucial, conducting the therapeutic responses in our correctional environment is incredibly important.”

Mr Paech told the NT News “jailing doesn’t deter crime”.

“The measures in our budget enable us to address demand pressures in corrections and increase rehabilitation programs, while we continue with our longer-term reform work to bring about meaningful generational change,” he said.

“We are being smarter about our approach to breaking the cycle of crime, because jailing doesn’t deter crime.”

Dr Mindy Sotiri, Executive Director of the Justice Reform Initiative. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Justice Reform Initiative, the group behind the Jailing is Failing movement, said there was urgent need to reduce the number of people in Australian prisons.

“The evidence is very clear that jailing is failing as a deterrent, it is failing to reduce crime, and it is ineffective at addressing the drivers of criminal justice system involvement,” executive director Dr Mindy Sotiri said.

“The evidence overwhelmingly shows that locking people up does not make safer communities, it does the opposite and makes future offending more likely.

“Meanwhile, alternatives to incarceration – such as early prevention, diversion, First Nations-led programs, and specialist courts that address disadvantage and provide pathways out of the justice system – reduce reoffending but consistently lack meaningful funding and resourcing to make a systemic difference.

“We need our leaders to make policy based on the evidence of what actually works to prevent crime and deliver better outcomes for communities, not populist vote-chasing.

“We are committed to working with policymakers from all sides of politics for change.”