The Northern Territory Labor Conference unanimously passed three separate motions听on September 3听calling on the NT Labor government to听close the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre (DDYDC).
The Indigenous Labor Network鈥檚 motion demanded the NT government 鈥渦rgently close鈥 the DDYDC and replace it with 鈥渁 new, purpose-built facility at a separate location to Darwin Correctional Precinct鈥.
The Casuarina Branch called on the NT government to 鈥渉onour the Royal Commission鈥檚 recommendations and urgently decommission the existing Youth Detention Centre鈥. It said the government must 鈥渦rgently move the children and youths detained at Don Dale to other alternative facilities鈥.
Young Labor鈥檚 motion called on the government to commit to 鈥渃losing Don Dale for good鈥 and 鈥渘ever reopening another facility like it鈥.
The three motions add to the mounting pressure on the government to close DDYDC听sooner than it said it would.
Labor has committed close the DDYDC in 鈥渓ate 2023鈥 after it opens a new youth justice centre, being constructed in Holtze, next to the adult prison.
DDYDC is the former Berrimah Prison for adults, which was closed in 2014 but re-opened as a youth detention centre. It was the subject of a听2016鈥17听royal commission that found it was 鈥渘ot fit for accommodating, let alone听rehabilitating, children and young people鈥 due to its 鈥渟evere, prison-like and unhygienic conditions鈥.
The Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory听recommended DDYDC be closed. It has remained open and since NT Labor passed听鈥 in May last year, it has become听more听difficult for children to be granted bail.
By this May, the DDYDC had recorded the听听of children incarcerated since the royal commission handed down its final report.
The number of self-harm and attempted suicides has been rising: NT News听they had risen by 400% in one year.
Protesters from the Close Don Dale NOW! group gathered outside the Mal Nairn Auditorium at Charles Darwin University where Labor was holding its conference.
Natalie Hunter, a founding member of the group, said the situation inside DDYDC is so dire it needs to close immediately.
鈥淲e鈥檙e here today to make sure the [Labor Party] get[s] the message,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not getting anywhere with the NT government.鈥
John Lawrence SC, former president of the NT Bar Association, echoed Hunter鈥檚 call. 鈥淲e are here to emphasise our continued dissent and opposition to the NT Labor government鈥檚 policy of child abuse,鈥 he said.
Lawrence has been representing an 11-year-old Indigenous boy, who spent more than three months in DDYDC on remand. Almost all the children in DDYDC are Indigenous and most of them are on remand. He said the NT government is 鈥渄irectly responsible鈥 for 鈥渒eeping children in unlawful and barbaric conditions鈥.
鈥淭hese [Labor] people stand for nothing except winning,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f it means Indigenous children being tortured and self-harming in terrifying numbers they will do it.鈥
The protesters called on NT听Members of the Legislative Assembly听entering the conference to听come and speak to them, but none did.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that the reports of self-harm in youth justice systems are 鈥渞egrettable and concerning鈥.
Hunter said the PM鈥檚 response was 鈥渋nadequate鈥. She said as the White-Gooda royal commission was a joint NT-federal investigation that the federal government听should听take responsibility to ensure听DDYDC is closed immediately.
[The听, whose numbers have steadily been increasing,听holds Friday afternoon vigils outside the gates of DDYDC.]