Disability network condemns NT govt’s youth justice laws

First Peoples Disability Network has condemned the Northern Territory Government’s sweeping youth justice overhaul, claiming it violates human rights laws.

“The Northern Territory Government is knowingly choosing to use instruments of torture on children with disabilities, directly defying the recommendations of the 2017 Royal Commission and violating international human rights law,” the FPDN said in a statement.

“The Government’s justification of “officer safety” is a fallacy.

“A comprehensive 2023 review by the Australian Federal Police led it to ban spit hoods, concluding the “risk of using spit hoods outweighed the benefits of their use, given they are ineffective in protecting against transmissible diseases”.

By stripping away detention last resort protections and restoring spit hoods, the network says the NT is ignoring Closing the Gap Target 11, which requires a 30 percent reduction in First Nations youth detention by 2031.

“The NT is gutting essential child safety safeguards just as we finally started addressing disability in the justice system,” FPDN chief executive Damian Griffis said.

“Re authorising spit hoods and turning detention into a first response will result in deeper cycles of trauma and incarceration.

“Our children need healing and disability support, not more cuffs, hoods and concrete walls. This law takes us backwards to the Don Dale days the Royal Commission exposed.”

First Peoples Disability Network has called on the Territory Government ­to withdraw the Bill’s punitive clauses; legislate a permanent ban on spit hoods; reinstate detention as a last resort in the Youth Justice Act.