The NT has known about mistreatment of juveniles for years. So why has nothing happened?

Updated

ABC reporter Kate Wild has been covering the treatment of children in the NT juvenile justice system for years, from the gassing of children to the controversial use of restraint chairs. She explains why it has taken so long for politicians to take action.

There have been two very consistent responses from the Northern Territory Government over the years I've been covering this story.

The first has been 'nothing to see here, there are no problems, we're dealing with them, we're addressing them'.

But over the top of that response has always been this very strong message from NT Corrections Minister John Elferink, and to a lesser extent from NT Corrections boss Ken Middlebrook up until late last year, that we're not to feel too sorry for the young men in Don Dale because they are bad kids, tough kids, they've done terrible things to people in the community.

We can't forget that yes, these kids have broken into people's homes, they have stolen their cars, they have assaulted people, they have done some very serious things, some of them.

But the emphasis politically that has been put on the character of these kids and the bad behaviour of these kids has pushed a really, really strong law and order line in the Northern Territory to excuse any allegations or any reports of poor treatment of these kids in Don Dale.

There is a culture, and has always been a culture in the Northern Territory, that we're a long way from anywhere, that we don't have a lot of independent bodies outside of politics to keep an eye on things or to take action when poor behaviour or poor policy or overlooking important, serious issues happens.

There's no-one really in the Northern Territory to take action.

Because the Territory's a long way from anywhere, there's a culture of 'we'll ignore it, it will go away, the rest of the country's attention will turn somewhere else and we'll get on with what we always do'.

And so, as a journalist who has been working here for a while, it does get very difficult to be reporting on these things continually for years and to not see things change locally.

The Territory rocked to the core

While people in the Northern Territory have been aware of these stories and these incidents in Don Dale for a long time, seeing the pictures of them last night on Four Corners I know has rocked some people absolutely to the core.

Sorry, this video has expired Video: CCTV shows minor being gassed by prison guards (ABC News)

I had a phone call last night from a very senior bureaucrat who has worked in the Aboriginal medical space and the Aboriginal homecare space for a long time.

She was in tears, saying to me: "I can't believe that finally something's being done about this. I can't believe that the pictures that were shown on Four Corners last night are finally going to take the lid off this and something is happening and people are paying attention."

"I'm shocked, I don't know what to do. I'm just so grateful that something has finally happened."

This is a person who has seen and done it all and who has lived through the intervention, who has lived through a lot of difficult things in the Northern Territory, and her shock and her gratitude last night really said to me how big a deal this is and how big a change this might bring to the Territory.

Topics: community-and-society, youth, law-crime-and-justice, crime, darwin-0800, alice-springs-0870, nt, australia

First posted