Royal commission into the protection and detention of children in the Northern Territory

Adam Giles was an uncooperative and “galling” witness who abrogated his responsibilities as chief minister of the Northern Territory, the former heads of the child protection and detention royal commission have said.

In an interview with the ABC, Mick Gooda and Margaret White singled out Giles for criticism amid the dozens of witnesses to appear before the 10-month inquiry.

Giles lost his seat as well as government in the last NT election.

“He really was the only example of lack of cooperation with the terms of reference, which was somewhat astonishing since he was the person who set the terms of reference for the Northern Territory,” said White.

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Gooda said Giles was “the most uncooperative witness” to appear.

“In my view he completely abrogated his responsibilities as chief minister, and he had the gall to sit there and say he was coming along to give evidence to make things better for Aboriginal kids in the Northern Territory.”

Giles appeared in the later hearings of the commission after months of evidence of mismanagement, abuse, mistreatment, and policy failures in NT youth detention.

The commission, which delivered its final report in November, heard from experts and academics, bureaucrats, frontline service workers, current and former detainees, and a number of guards and supervisors – including those accused of mistreating or abusing children in detention.

Giles was the only witness not to prepare a statement for the commission, and he told the hearing he hadn’t been following the inquiry to date, or caught up on it since.

Instead he answered questions more than 60 times by saying he “couldn’t recall” details.

On some occasions Giles had said he was unable to answer because he didn’t have a particular document in front of him, or because could not see that a document he was being questioned over had been signed and therefore verified.

Giles said he remembered visiting the Don Dale detention centre with his then justice and corrections minister, John Elferink, “but I don’t have any recollection about what I saw, where I saw it, or any other details”.

This included exactly when the visit occurred, whether he spoke to any detainees, if he saw the controversial behavioural management or high security units, or even met the superintendent.

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In Tuesday’s interview White told the ABC that counsel assisting the commission had suggested to Giles that his lack of recollection was “scarcely believable” but there was little more it could do.

“You can’t actually make people say things if they don’t wish to,” she said.

Just hours after Four Corners broadcast shocking footage of mistreatment inside the Don Dale detention centre, Giles raised calls for a royal commission.

He said he was “shocked and disgusted” by the program, which raised “serious questions” about the treatment of children.

The following day he formally announced a royal commission with the federal government, and declared there was “a culture of cover-up” within the corrections department.

Over subsequent months – which coincided with his ultimately unsuccessful re-election campaign – Giles vacillated between concern over the conditions in youth detention and accusing Four Corners of being politically motivated.

He gave several conflicting statements or interviews about what he knew of the long-running and frequently reported issues and allegations of mistreatment in the juvenile detention system.

The commission’s final report revealed it had referred a number of matters to police, including potential criminal conduct by youth justice officers, the harassment or threatening of witnesses or potential witnesses, and the physical, sexual and neglectful abuse of children in out-of-home residential care settings.

Gooda and White said this had included private recommendations of prosecution, but this was not detailed in the report to prevent any investigations being compromised.

The royal commission was given an extension of time when it became apparent the original brief was not long enough. It faced criticism over apparent disorganisation, understood to be because of the volume of work required in a short time.

White said of it had been given 12 months from the start, “things probably would have been done rather differently”.

Both commissioners hoped the recommendations would be implemented in full, unlike those from numerous previous inquiries.

Giles has been contacted for comment.