NT government awards $1m contract to demolish old Don Dale, despite keeping kids in a prison ‘only fit for a bulldozer’

Australia’s most notorious children’s prison will be knocked down next month, closing a controversial chapter of the Territory’s history.

Last week the Territory Government has confirmed it awarded the tender to NTEX, a demolition recycling and civil construction company, to knock down the former Don Dale Youth Detention Centre on Tivendale Rd. Picture: PETER BENNETT

A looming reminder of the Territory’s dark history of youth justice is set to be demolished, with the government awarding a $1m contract to knock down Don Dale.

Last week the Territory government has confirmed it awarded the tender to NTEX, a demolition recycling and civil construction company, to knock down the former Don Dale Youth Detention Centre on Tivendale Rd.

“Works are anticipated to commence next month,” a Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics spokeswoman said.

The government has previously claimed the July demolition would honour a seven-year-old recommendation to close the infamous centre, following the NT Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children.

However the Tivendale Rd complex has been vacant for years following a major disturbance at the centre in 2014, with the children currently held in the formerly decommissioner maximum security prison, Berrimah jail.

The second Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, located in the former Berrimah prison.

The Royal Commission report recommended the “immediate” closure of the Berrimah jail, concluding in 2017 the centre “impacted negatively” on the children’s access to education and extra-curricular activities.

It said children at Berrimah prison — the second “Don Dale” — were sleeping in concrete cells in a centre surrounded by razor wire.

“The appalling conditions, and the experiences of children who were held there … It should be immediately closed,” it said.

Back in 2017 the NT government acknowledged that the Berrimah jail was not suitable, with the Royal Commission recommending a purpose-built facility should be built within three months.

The new youth justice facility is expected to open by mid-2024, however it is unknown when the young people will actually move into the Holtze facility.

The Berrimah prison — which a former Corrections Commissioner said was “only fit for a bulldozer” — will be handed back to Corrections as a training facility.

However the Tivendale Rd complex has been vacant for years following a major disturbance at the centre in 2014.

With the timeline ticking on the old Don Dale, NTEX said it was unable to comment on the high-profile demolition.

The company has recently won a series of demolition projects, including the $11.9m bid to knock down the Shiers St public housing complex in The Narrows, and provided a $187,000 quote for the demolition of the Parap preschool.

NTEX was also involved in remediatation works at Holtze and a consultant on the Darwin region's emergency waste management plan.