Five years on, the jury is still out on the progress of the Royal Commission into NT youth protection and detention

August 1 marks five years since the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT was established, but the jury is out on whether there has been meaningful change to the lives of young people in the youth justice system since.

AUGUST 1 marks five years since the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory was established.

The final report made 218 recommendations to the Territory government, which it says were all accepted in principle.

Of them, it says, 158 have been completed, 57 are underway and three have not yet begun.

But the jury is out on whether there has been meaningful change for the lives of young people entering the Territory’s youth justice system.

Darwin barrister John Lawrence SC represented former Don Dale detainee Jake Roper, who became one of the faces of the Royal Commission after images of the then-teenager being shackled and tear-gassed by staff were broadcast by the ABC’s Four Corners in 2016.

Mr Lawrence claimed the Territory Labor government was “truly shameless” in its response to the revelations of the mistreatment of youth detainees.

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“Having been exposed and shamed by Four Corners and then the Royal Commission, this government has done effectively nothing to improve our juvenile justice system,” he said.

“What happened to all those children was bad enough.

“To then hold no one accountable for it, and then ignore the recommendations is disgraceful.”

Mr Lawrence described the government’s claims of implementing the recommendations as “spurious” and “window dressing”.

He said the government’s failure to shut down the current Don Dale Youth Detention Centre at the Berrimah prison site nearly four years after the final report had been released was “a disgrace”.

“You can talk until you’re blue in the face about agreeing with recommendations and claiming to implement them, but the reality is that these children are still in condemned adult jail (nearly) four years after the recommendations, and there is more (detainees) there now than there’s ever been, and the government is expanding its ability to accommodate more.”

A screengrab of the ABC’s Four Corners program in 2016 showing the disturbing conditions within youth detention centres in the Northern Territory. Picture: Supplied

Territory Families Minister Kate Worden said the government had worked hard to ensure that the Territory’s youth justice system was reformed.

“These reforms build on this government’s vision of a youth justice system that contributes to community safety and reduces reoffending by young people,” Ms Worden said.

“One major aspect of youth justice that this government reformed was moving our young people in detention away from the adult corrections system to Territory Families – because we know a different approach is needed – something the CLP don’t understand, and would reverse if they were in government,” she said.

Ms Worden said the government was working to reform and improve services for children and families experiencing vulnerability through a $229m investment over five years.

“We have invested significantly into the root cause of youth offending, such as youth activities and after-hours programs in all regional centres, including investing in youth diversion and alternative sentencing programs and services aimed at reducing youth offending and reoffending,” she said.

The Don Dale youth detention centre in 2019. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“Our recent bail laws is targeting repeat offenders, closing the loop on the cycle of bail.

“The Darwin Youth Justice Centre is currently under construction with civil works, buildings pads and other foundational works well underway with the project expected to be completed in late-2022, with the old site to be shut thereafter – after commissioning work on the new building is complete.”

However, Opposition Leader Lia Finocciaro said the Gunner government's implementation of the Royal Commission recommendations had been “a miserable failure”.

“We still don’t have a new youth justice facility, recidivist youth offending has passed crisis point and the experiment of moving youth justice to Territory Families has been a complete disaster,” she said.

“In usual Gunner government fashion they’ve promised the world and failure to deliver, and the icing on the cake was this week’s $35m compensation payout which cements Labor’s focus on offenders, not victims.”