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ABC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Nearly 400 Indigenous children and teens held in NT police watch houses over six-month period
Almost 400 Indigenous children and teenagers have been held in the Northern Territory's notorious police watch houses over a six-month period, the ABC can reveal. Exactly how long the children were kept in the watch houses may never been known, however, with NT Police admitting they are recording erroneous time-spent-in-custody information. The ABC has obtained nearly 60 pages of confidential NT Police data under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, tracking youths in custody from August 25, 2024, to March 5, 2025. The Country Liberal Party government was elected on a tough-on-crime platform on August 24. NT Police initially refused to release the data to the ABC, so it had to be sourced through FOI. The data shows there were nearly 870 youth "custody events" in NT police watch houses over the six months. The custody events involved 402 individual youths, some of whom were recidivist offenders. Of the 402 youths, the dataset — which NT Police confirmed was correct — shows 388 were Indigenous. A police spokesperson who confirmed the numbers said all watch houses were "managed through strict policy, procedures and instructions". "The primary consideration in relation to people in police custody is the safety and welfare of the individual," they said. The independent member for Mulka in the NT parliament, Yingiya Guyula, said children in watch houses were being "traumatised in a way that does not encourage rehabilitation". "I have visited the watch house in Palmerston and holding people for days in these conditions is just cruel," he said. The government lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10 in October 2024. As of 2024, there were 27,400 people aged between 10 and 17 in the NT. It means around 1.5 per cent of children in that age bracket spent time in NT watch houses over the six months. The statistics cover six NT watch houses, including the Peter McAuley Centre police headquarters in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and Palmerston. Some are notoriously overcrowded, with windowless cells and the lights on 24 hours a day. They are meant to be used only as a stopgap place for the youths to be processed after their arrests, before they are delivered to a newly built youth detention centre in Darwin. Last week, the NT's Aboriginal legal aid service NAAJA revealed an 11-year-old girl had been left for a night and two days in the Palmerston watch house. In March, a 15-year-old girl was held in the Palmerston watch house for three nights after the local court ceased after-hours bail reviews for young people. The treatment of children in watch houses in Queensland has also been under scrutiny, with a state police review finding youths were spending an average of 161 hours in the facilities. As part of the ABC's FOI request, NT Police released data logs showing how long each child had spent in custody. The data indicated that, while the vast majority were in custody for less than 24 hours, some had spent up to 25 days at a time inside Palmerston watch house. Others were recorded to have been kept in watch houses for six, seven or eight-day periods. When asked to confirm the accuracy of the data, the NT Police spokesperson said it was erroneous: "The Northern Territory Police Force can confirm that the data provided does not accurately reflect the actual time youths have spent in custody. "While the report you received reflects what was recorded in the system at the time, it does not account for process variations that can affect how custody end times are calculated." The spokesperson said police could not provide an accurate time frame for each of the 870 custody cases, as it would require "a manual analysis of each custody incident". "No youths have been held in police watch houses for 25 days straight," they said. In November 2023, NT Police replaced its decades-old crime data IT software with a new system named SerPro. Initially budgeted at $45 million, the cost of rolling out SerPro increased to $58 million, and it's been plagued with issues since it began operating. Nathan Finn, the president of the NT's police union, said he was not surprised the time-in-custody data was erroneous, considering the issues police faced with the system. "Since the establishment of the SerPro system, we've seen a number of data issues and how that's been calculated," he said. "We've seen this and raised these concerns over a number of periods of time since the implementation of [SerPro]. "[SerPro] probably creates a 25 per cent increase in workload in managing a prisoner … within the custody facility." Mr Finn said it would be unprecedented for youths to be held for weeks at a time in watch houses. "We have youth that are in custody sometimes for two days or three days at maximum, depending on where they're remanded to and the availability of transferring them into a correctional facility," he said. He said the data issues needed to be fixed immediately. "If the police force is receiving this data and it's incorrect, how are they guiding their own policies and procedures?" he said. "How are they managing any risks that are identified, or any concerns that they may have in the custody space?" Mr Guyula agreed that the erroneous data needed to be fixed immediately. "We don't trust the information that we are being given," he said. "The police data shows some children are being held in watch houses for long periods, even weeks. "If the data is not correct, the police need to provide the correct data.
ABC News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
NT minister quotes Nazi propagandist, references theory of evolution in racism debate
The Northern Territory's anti-discrimination commissioner has criticised comments by the territory's multicultural affairs minister appearing to link race with Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Jinson Charls made the comments after Independent MLA Yingiya Guyula moved a motion in parliament on Wednesday urging the government to commit to eradicating racism through the Aboriginal Justice Agreement and National Anti-Racism Framework. The Country Liberal Party (CLP) frontbencher began his speech by saying "I do not support racism in any form". "I'm not afraid to name it, call it out and challenge it no matter where it hides or how it's dressed up," he told the chamber. Mr Charls went on to highlight the insidious ways racism can hurt minority groups and shared some of his personal experiences as a migrant in Australia before explaining how "science" had "shaped my thinking". "Charles Darwin's survival of the fittest theory, the well-known theory from long ago, still rings true in many ways," he said. "People are born with different strengths, different talents and not all parts are equal, not all people can do the same things. NT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Jeswynn Yogaratnam said "trying to ground anti-racism in Darwin's theory misses the point entirely". "When we look at the context of who is the fittest, it's always the person with power and privilege," he said. "That's not what we should be achieving by using the theory of evolution." In a statement issued on Thursday, Independent MLA Justine Davis said Mr Charls' comments were "deeply concerning". "It is well-documented that Darwin's theory was used to justify atrocities committed against Aboriginal people here in Australia, and informed incredibly harmful government policies such as the Stolen Generation," she said. In his speech, Mr Charls also quoted notorious Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, while accusing the Labor opposition of adopting his "method" as a "political strategy". "There is an old saying — tell a lie often enough and it becomes the truth," he said. "It is not my line, it was a method used by Joseph Goebbels, a propaganda architect in dark days of history." In her statement, Ms Davis said speaking as a Jewish woman, the reference was "deeply concerning" and called into question Mr Charls' fitness for the multicultural affairs portfolio. "The casual invocation of one of history's most notorious figures, responsible for enabling genocide, is not only inappropriate, it is offensive to multicultural communities, Holocaust survivors and all Australians who value respectful discourse and historical truth," she said. After the ABC requested further clarification from Mr Charls over his comments on Thursday, he released a statement reiterating that he did "not condone racism in any form". "Context is important when speaking on such an important topic," he said. "My contribution yesterday is on the Hansard record and I'll let people read it for themselves, however will reinforce the words from my speech — all members of this house are equal. "No one is above another and my contribution was clear to the amended motion which was about racism affecting everyone." The CLP made amendments removing references to the government's obligations under the Aboriginal Justice Agreement and anti-racism framework before ultimately supporting Mr Guyula's motion. In a statement, the Arnhem Land politician said he was "surprised" by the removal of any reference to Aboriginal people's specific experiences of systemic racism. Aboriginal people make up the vast majority of the NT's overflowing prison population and experience significantly poorer health and education outcomes. Mr Guyula said while it "may not have been intentional", the amended motion "removed my voice and the First Nations experience that I was trying to highlight".
ABC News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Kava smuggling to NT Indigenous communities spikes after import controls lifted, leaders say
Kava smuggling into the Northern Territory's remote Indigenous communities is on the rise, with local leaders fearing the black market price of the drink is draining family finances and fuelling social problems. Police and Indigenous leaders say the amount of kava being smuggled into communities has surged in the years since the Morrison government relaxed import restrictions on the beverage. Commercial imports of kava, a drink with sedative effects widely used in Pacific Islands, resumed in 2021 as part of a diplomatic push to strengthen Australia's relations in the region. But it remains banned in the NT due to its past misuse in some parts of Arnhem Land. Kava has been smuggled into the region's communities since the 1990s, but the illicit trade slowed following a federal government ban on commercial imports in 2007, before import restrictions were subsequently watered down. Now, local community leaders say smuggling is on the rise again — and there are fears the trade is draining family finances, with illicit powdered kava costing up to $1,000 per kilogram. "Those people who smuggle kava find there's a bit of pocket money that they create, but it doesn't help the people out here," Yingiya Guyula, who represents the Arnhem Land electorate of Mulka in the NT's legislative assembly, said. Mr Guyula said there had been an increase in social problems caused by excessive use of the exorbitantly priced, black market kava. Acting Sergeant Nicholas Mitchell, from the NT Police Force dog operations unit, said police were intercepting more kava bound for remote communities, with "an uptick" in seizures over the past six months. Five busts during that time involved quantities ranging from 120 to 250 kilograms of kava. With kava being sold for up to $1,000 per kilogram on the black market — 20 times what it costs outside the NT — criminals were trying to chase big profits, Acting Sergeant Mitchell said. Kava is sold commercially in Australia as a soluble powder — made from the roots of kava plants found throughout Pacific Islands — and importers require a permit. The drink, which has huge traditional significance in Pacific Islands, has now become a commercial product, with kava bars appearing as far away as New York. For more than a decade, the only way to bring kava into Australia was on a flight from a Pacific country where it was grown, with a limit of two kilograms for personal use. That changed in 2019 when then-prime minister Scott Morrison, during a visit to Vanuatu, announced a dramatic relaxation of the rules as part of his so-called "Pacific Step-up" policy to strengthen relations with Pacific nations. The personal limit was increased to four kilograms, and then in 2021, commercial imports of kava were allowed. Between 2021 and 2024, more than 400 tonnes of kava were imported from Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu, according to Food Standards Australia New Zealand. But experts say it is unclear whether the increase in supply is driving the rise in smuggling to the NT. Alan Clough, professor of public health at James Cook University, said it was too early to determine a definitive link. "Just the synchronicity of it makes it highly suspicious, but it would take some really good data and some really good data analysis to draw a conclusion about that," he said. Professor Clough, who has spent decades researching the impacts of kava on communities in Arnhem Land, said the social and economic impact of the illicit kava trade was clear. "I estimated at one stage, in the Arnhem Land communities, that probably one dollar out of every six dollars that the community had available as cash was going to the illegal kava dealers," he said. Locals and experts say the ban on kava in the Northern Territory has never worked — and that smugglers have continued to bring it into remote communities. They say with commercial imports likely to continue, it's time to rethink how kava is regulated in the territory. Mr Guyula said despite the harm, many people saw drinking kava — with its relaxing, slightly euphoric effects — as a less harmful alternative to alcohol and other drugs. And they want it legalised under community-driven controls. "For a cost that would keep the family going, still have pocket money for their children and families and food." A pilot of the new kava import controls introduced by the Morrison government ended in late 2023. The relaxed restrictions will continue until the federal government makes a decision on future arrangements, according to the Office of Drug Control. An evaluation of the pilot found there had been "positive cultural, social and economic outcomes" for Pacific Islander communities but there was "limited evidence available to assess impacts on Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait communities" and noted further monitoring was required.
