“Like all Australians, I’ve been deeply shocked — shocked and appalled by the images of mistreatment of children at the Don Dale Centre”, he said.
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Australia’s prime minister ordered a sweeping investigation Tuesday into alleged abuse at a juvenile detention center after video emerged of Aboriginal teens being tear-gassed, stripped naked and shackled to a chair. “The (Northern Territory) Government has failed to deal with systemic issues with the treatment of children in its youth detention system”.
The federal opposition had been calling for the inquiry to be extended to other states and territories but the prime minister warned a broader royal commission could lose its way.
Human rights activists said that they had previously raised the issue of child abuse at the detention center, and accused the government of ignoring the issue.
The program showed videos of abuse taking place at several centers across the Northern Territories, including the Don Dale center in Darwin.
In 2014, it was reported that prison guards tear-gassed six teenagers, one of whom was Voller, when they “tried to escape a facility in Darwin after arming themselves with glass, barricading doors and smashing windows and light fittings”. We need to expose the cultural problems, the administrative problems that allowed this type of mistreatment to occur.
Aborigines comprise just three percent of Australia’s population but make up 27 percent of those in prison.
Mick Gooda, Australia’s aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner, called for the Northern Territory government to be “sacked”.
Human Rights Watch said it had always been urging the government to act on abuses in juvenile detention, and that the Northern Territory was the tip of the iceberg.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said the footage was particularly shocking because the guards involved appeared cavalier about their actions.
Mr Turnbull promised to investigate whether there had been a culture of abuse and – given the previous investigations into the same centre – a culture of cover-up.
Mr Brandis said the royal commission would primarily examine “failings in the child protection and youth detention systems administered by the Government of the Northern Territory”. Last year, a review of the facility by the Northern Territory Children’s Commissioner found an excessive use of solitary confinement and inappropriate use of restraints.
A still from the video footage of a child being tortured inside the Don Dale detention centre.
The commission will hold a directions hearing on September 6 and report by the end of March, however Justice Martin was confident he’d be granted extra time if needed.
He says a notable Australian will oversee the royal commission, and that a report will be delivered in early-2017.
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“I understand there are rules which guide the prisons in Australia and the United Nations, and how we use basic human rights in the treatment of prisoners … what I do not understand is how we are soft, flaccid, and incapable of punishing prisoners in our corrections system”.
