ALL children in detention in the Northern Territory are Indigenous, it is revealed

All children currently in detention in Australia’s Northern Territory are Indigenous, data has revealed.

The state’s department of children and families confirmed last week that the proportions of young people held in detention centres ‘have not changed since the royal commission’, with 100 per cent of detainees still being Aboriginal.

That commission, established in 2016, followed shocking revelations concerning the abuse of juveniles held in the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Darwin.

Yingiya Mark Guyula, Australian politician and member for Nhulunbuy, said he believes the state’s justice system is defective and is barracking for reforms, according to The Guardian.  

The state’s families department confirmed that the proportions of young people held in youth detention centres ‘have not changed since the royal commission’ (file image)

The commission to which the department refers followed shocking revelations concerning the abuse of juveniles held in the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre (pictured) in Darwin

‘The royal commission provided evidence that the ways that the Balanda [white] system treats Aboriginal children is inhumane, costly and does not work’, Mr Guyula said at last week’s NT estimates hearing. 

‘We want to see our elders in control of raypirri – or discipline – for our young people,’ he said.

‘We want troubled young people out on homelands with oversight from elders, and access to education from our people and through the school system.’

Mr Guyula suggested that at least one problem was a lack of genuine partnership between the government and Indigenous leaders.

That royal commission ‘provided evidence that the ways that the Balanda [white] system treats Aboriginal children is inhumane, costly and does not work,’ said Yingiya Mark Guyula, member for Nhulunbuy (pictured)

Mr Guyula said he believes the state’s justice system is defective and is barracking for reforms

In response to the recommendations of the royal commission, the NT government claims to have allocated $9.9 million over four years ‘to divert young people from crime and stop future offending’.

The government also reportedly set aside $22.9 million over the same time period to be invested in improving youth detention operations and reducing recidivism – that is, an individual’s likelihood to re-offend.

Speaking to the committee at the estimates hearing last week, NT’s families minister Dale Wakefield said that: ‘It is an area that we are going to need to continue to develop.

‘We need to make sure … that local communities can make decisions around the ways they want to respond to young people who are not meeting community expectations in terms of their behaviour.’ 

A total of 38 young people are currently in detention in the NT.

In response to the recommendations of the royal commission, the NT government claims to have allocated $9.9 million over four years ‘to divert young people from crime and stop future offending’ (pictured: Don Dale Youth Detention Centre)