 The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) is echoing concerns raised federally and by youth and justice advocates about regressive changes to the Youth Justice Act passed by the Northern Territory Parliament yesterday. They are not going to have any impact on crime rates and will only lead to more Aboriginal children in jail. The changes include courts being able to consider an alleged youth offender’s full criminal history when sentencing for adult offences, removing diversion as an option for some offences and the principle of detention as a last resort, the reintroduction of spit hoods and correctional dog handlers to have broader powers for the use of dogs upon juveniles.
The Productivity Commission this week reported that the Northern Territory is the worst-performing jurisdiction in the country under the National Agreement of Closing the Gap, with eight targets deteriorating, including youth detention and adult incarceration. In the Northern Territory, the rate of incarceration of non-Aboriginal people is 184.7 per 100,000 people, while it is staggeringly 3,334.2 per 100,000 people for Aboriginal people. The prison population is already at record highs.
Productivity Commissioner, Selwyn Button said, ‘We certainly can see the direct correlation between the legislative changes in the Northern Territory to the direct outcomes in terms of increasing numbers of incarceration rates ….. and the Northern Territory can’t actually arrest its way out of an issue’.
The changes to the Youth Justice Act and other legislative changes since September 2024 are deliberately punitive and will just see more Aboriginal people locked up and not address crime rates. In the last 12 months, total criminal offences in the Local Court increased by 17% from 35,618 in 2023/24 to 41,723 in 2024/25, the largest increase in crime in the last 10 years (Source: Local Court performance & statistics).
NAAJA, like other key Aboriginal stakeholders, was not consulted on the Youth Justice Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 before it was introduced into Parliament.
NAAJA is joining calls for the Commonwealth Government to address the concerning approach to law and order in the Northern Territory, often underpinned by Commonwealth funding. The Productivity Commission in March 2025 said, ‘governments are shirking meaningful action to close the gap’ and today went further and said, ‘the Commonwealth Government needs to do more to address Indigenous disadvantage by pulling levers to compel states and Territories to pull their weight.’
In the Senate yesterday, independent Senator Lidia Thorpe urged the federal government to cut funding to jurisdictions that are under-performing on the targets, including the Northern Territory. ‘There needs to be consequences for not closing the gap, otherwise don’t take the money. The Northern Territory are dismally failing.’ Senator David Shoebridge this week in the Senate expressed similar sentiments about the Youth Justice Act changes, ‘The Northern Territory is rushing dangerous changes to youth justice laws through its Parliament that we know will harm vulnerable children and will not protect our community. … Its blaming the most vulnerable. Young people don’t commit crimes because the punishment isn’t tough enough. The Prime Minister announced federal intervention into child care using Commonwealth funding to protect children but if the Commonwealth can step in for day care safety, why can’t they act and intervene when a state or territory is deliberately, consciously, harming people in their jurisdiction’.
There are increasing concerns about record incarceration rates that are having no impact on crime, as well as across the board concerns about watch houses being used as long term prisons, including from the NT Police Association. NAAJA is calling on all levels of government to discuss with Aboriginal leaders alternative ways of addressing crime and improving community safety, including addressing root causes such as increasing levels of poverty and disadvantage in Aboriginal communities.
Media contact
Comments in this media release other than direct quotes can be attributed to a NAAJA spokesperson.
Anthony Beven
0419 218 518 / anthony.beven@naaja.org.au
NAAJA MR2025-12
1 August 2025