Overview

• The CLP government will introduce urgent Youth Justice Act amendments this week to allow spit hoods in detention centres and remove the principle of detention as a last resort.
• Amendments also permit courts to consider an alleged offender’s full criminal history, expand officers’ use-of-force powers and grant emergency management authority to the corrections commissioner.
• Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley said the urgent package responds to a weekend stabbing of a 15-year-old at the Royal Darwin Show and rising assaults on staff.
• NT Children’s Commissioner Shahleena Musk and advocates warn the proposal breaches international law, reverses royal commission reforms and heightens risks of injury or death.
• NT Police have used spit hoods on youths in watch houses since October 2024 under strict protocols, leaving youth detention as the only setting where they remained banned.