Top lawyer slams politicians’ ‘tough on crime’ agenda

A prominent Territory criminal lawyer has called on both sides of politics to drop their ‘tough on crime’ agendas in the lead up to the August election, saying current measures aimed at tackling crime are doing more harm than good for vulnerable Territorians.

Criminal lawyer Marty Aust says the ‘tough on crime’ approach has done more harm than good in the Territory.

• Opinion: Crime not an election issue

A PROMINENT Territory criminal lawyer has called on both sides of politics to drop their ‘tough on crime’ agendas in the lead up to the August election, saying current measures are doing more harm than good.

President of the Criminal Lawyers Association of the NT Marty Aust has slammed the approach of past and present governments – as well as political hopefuls – to tackling the NT’s high crime rates.

“Unfortunately across at least the last 20 years, successive governments in the Northern Territory have persisted in introducing some of the most devastating law reform policy in the entirety of Australian criminal law jurisdictions,” Mr Aust said.

“Time and time again our general community, our business owners, our children and importantly our most vulnerable members – the homeless, the sick, the uneducated, the English as a second language speakers – have been let down through punitive and shortsighted policy.”

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Instead, Mr Aust – who also works as a barrister for the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) – said there was a need for more long-term vision from future governments around the issue of crime.

“We need long-term solutions, not rhetoric, if we truly want to see a reduction in crime rates,” he said.

“These issues cannot be resolved overnight. They cannot be resolved by a few strong words aimed at alarming an already misinformed and frightened community that wants a quick fix that is simply not possible.”

Some recommendations he made include policy reform around education, drugs and alcohol as well as mental health services and housing.

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He also said that “a starting point” to improving youth crime would be for the NT Government to adopt the 209 recommendations set out in final report of the Royal Commission into the Detention and Protection of Children in the NT, which was handed down in 2017.