In August 2014, concerns were raised about the welfare of five children in detention at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre. The concerns related to the alleged indefinite confinement of children as young as 12 in the centre’s Behaviour Management Unit. The complainant noted that boys were being confined in “cramped and darkened cells” for up to 23 hours a day.
The complainant raised the issue with the Commissioner of the NT Department of Correctional Services – a written response did nothing to reassure them that the issue had been addressed.
Several days later, what was described as a ‘critical incident’ occurred at Don Dale. It was widely reported that six boys had escaped from their cells and “threatened staff with weapons fashioned out of smashed dinner plates, light fittings and windows.”
It was this incident that prompted an investigation by Howard Bath, the Northern Territory’s Children’s Commissioner. Bath’s report found that the department’s version of events, which was supplied to police, was “inaccurate and misleading.”
Only one of the boys was out of his cell and yet despite this, all six were gassed by corrective services officers.
It also found that six boys had been kept in solitary for between six and 17 days for up to 23 and a half hours a day. The maximum time allowed under the Youth Justice Act is three days.
The report was widely covered by media organisations including the Koori Mail. It’s front page on September 23 last year ran with the headline – “Children Gassed.”
This week, of course, the issue finally roared into the national consciousness, with ABC’s Four Corners program releasing footage of the correction department’s so-called ‘riot’, of children being assaulted by guards; of a young boy strapped to a chair, wearing a hood.
CEO of the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, Priscilla Collins, said her organisation had been trying to raise awareness of the issue for years.
It took the shocking footage shown on Four Corners to finally gain the attention of the Federal and Territory governments.
In an unprecedented move, less than 12 hours later Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced there would be a royal commission into youth detention in the Northern Territory.
For his part, Adam Giles, the Northern Territory’s Chief Minister, fronted camera’s the same day, announcing that the footage aired in the report had been withheld from him and from “many officials in government,” before acknowledging that there had been a culture of cover-ups within the corrections system.
At the same press conference, Giles announced he would be taking over the portfolios of Corrections 
and Justice from Minister John Elferink – the man responsible for young detainees in the Territory. Today, Elferink still holds the portfolios for Children and Families, and is the Northern Territory’s Attorney-General.
Like many other politicians, Northern Territory Senator and Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion expressed surprise at the revelations in the Four Corners report. But he had to be told to watch the program after an anxious phone call from the Prime Minister after the program had already aired.
In a subsequent press conference, Scullion said the footage hadn’t come to his attention previously because it hadn’t “piqued” his interest sufficiently.
Four Corners reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna was quick to tweet that Scullion’s office had asked for an advanced copy of the program the day before.
And NAAJA’s CEO, Priscilla Collins, was quick to damn the government for its denial of knowledge.
Olga Havnen, CEO of the Danila Dilba Aboriginal Health Service in Darwin joined Ms Collins in calling for the dissolution of the territory government.
The NT News has also thrown its weight behind the call – running with a front page headline on Wednesday calling for the federal government to “sack the lot of them.”
The Human Rights Law Centre’s Ruth Barson has been trying to raise awareness of what has been going on at Don Dale for a number of years, and has represented some of the boys seen in the footage. She spoke to Amy McQuire on 98.9 FM’s Let’s Talk, in the aftermath of the Four Corners episode.
Ms Barson said the Don Dale Detention Centre – which is a decommissioned adult prison – should never have had children in it.
Sue-Anne Hunter is the deputy chair of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care.
One of the most controversial, and shocking, images from the program was that of a 17 year old Dylan Voller
being strapped, hooded, into a mechanical chair with restraints at the wrists, ankles and head. He was left there alone for two hours.
It has since emerged that Voller has been restrained in the chair repeatedly, since the age of 11.
Speaking on the ABC, Voller’s lawyer, Peter O’Brien, said the approval of the use of restraints shows that the NT government should not be involved in the royal commission.
Only three months ago the NT government passed legislation, introduced by attorney general John Elferink, widening the usage of mechanical restraints.
Thirteen territory politicians – including four Aboriginal politicians, Adam Giles, Bess Price, Larissa Lee and Francis Xavier – voted for the mechanical restraints to be used on children. Labor and independent Alison Anderson opposed the legislation, although the abuses at Don Dale were being reported by 2010, when Labor was in office.
While the announcement of a royal commission into the treatment of the youths has been welcomed nationwide – there have been mixed reactions and opinions on how large the scope of the commission should be.
Many First Nations organisations and leaders have called for the commission to investigate youth detention facilities around the country, alleging that similar incidents are common in many centres.
Deputy chair of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Sue Anne-Hunter is one of those calling for more focus on detention centres around the nation.
Wayne Muir is the CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service. He questions whether the government has the political will to follow through on any recommendations the royal commission will make.
Human rights lawyer Ruth Barson – speaking earlier in the week – expressed her hope that the government would include Aboriginal people in the commission.
But Barson and others would ultimately be disappointed.
On Thursday afternoon, Malcolm Turnbull and Attorney-General George Brandis announced the terms of reference for the royal commission had been agreed upon, and former Northern Territory chief justice Brian Martin had been named to head the inquiry.
Justice Brian Martin says he is hopeful the royal commission will be complete by the end of March 2017.
However, in contradiction to what both Turnbull and Martin said during the press conference, 
not all Aboriginal organisations feel they have been properly consulted in the process.
Three of the most powerful territory organisations, the Northern and Central Land Councils and the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance have said they are “bitterly disappointed” that the PM ignored their request to be consulted about the terms of reference for the commission.
They have also said they “utterly reject” the choice of Chief Justice Martin as the royal commissioner.
John Paterson is the chief executive of the Territory’s Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance.
Attorney-General George Brandis spoke to the ABC’s Michael Brissenden on Friday morning to defend the government’s consultation process.
Olga Havnen, CEO of the Danila Dilba Aboriginal Health Service in Darwin was critical of Brandis’s claim.
Mr Paterson says their organisations have crucial insights into the flaws of the system and where change should be implemented.
The growing outrage at the abuse of youth in detention has strengthened the calls for a stronger push for restorative justice and away from the hard-line stance on crime that has been taken by government in the Northern Territory.
SNAICC Deputy Chair Sue-Anne Hunter again.
The CEO of the New South Wales Aboriginal Legal Service, Gary Oliver, expressed his hopes that the royal commission would see a stronger commitment to justice reinvestment, rather than detention.
Human rights lawyer Ruth Barson again.
