A horror year for the Northern Territory, beginning with a series of curfews in Alice Springs, has ended with a record number of people behind bars, as the new CLP government continues to enact policies criticised by many First Nations organisations.

2024 saw Labor lose the Territory election in August, ushering in a new government - backed by NT Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price - which promised harsher laws under the guise of protecting Territorians, however have been slammed by legal, human rights and Indigenous advocates.

Arguing they had a 'tough on crime' electoral mandate, the government has legislated lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10, as well as bringing back spit hoods in youth detention and enacting "Declan's Law", whereby offenders categorised as violent are automatically remanded to jail with a presumption against bail.

"The NT already has by far the highest imprisonment rates in Australia – if jailing children worked, this would already be the safest place in the country," NATSILS' chair Karly Warner said in September.

"Jailing children is just a lazy response that fuels cycles of disadvantage and makes everyone worse off. This will backfire. This is a sad day that we'll remember."

The government also announced their plan to move children in custody from Central Australia to Darwin, 1500km away from their family and culture.

"Whilst they may have been deprived of their liberty, these children still have the right to be connected to their culture, their loved ones and their community," NT Children's Commissioner, Shahleena Musk, said in October.

Earlier in the month, a report by the Commissioner's office found every child under 14 in youth custody in the NT had an interaction with Child Protection, with 94 per cent having been exposed to domestic and/or family violence.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people aged 14-17 are incarcerated at a higher rate in the NT than anywhere else in the country.

The year ended with more than 1 per cent of NT residents behind bars.

Earlier in the year, there was a mixed reaction to two curfews enacted in Alice Springs, after several violent incidents.

In March, a curfew for people under the age of 18 was eventually extended for three weeks, after a series of violent confrontations in the wake of the death of 18-year-old eastern Arrernte man Kumanjayi Petrick in a car accident.

Opposition to the curfew came from legal and human rights groups, including Amnesty International Australia and NATSILS, who labelled it a "knee-jerk" response unlikely to help the long-term issue of youth crime in Central Australia.

NAAJA and the Human Rights Law Centre criticised the decision to extend the curfew, arguing it would "disproportionately impact Aboriginal children and their families".

However others said it was the right decision, with then-Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, along with the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress calling it a necessary "circuit breaker" for the town.

In July, a second curfew - this time for three nights - was announced for the town, after four off-duty police officers were allegedly assaulted.

SNAICC chief executive Catherine Liddle criticised the "punitive measures," arguing they were not sustainable solutions for community or child safety.

The Territory also saw the "crisis" of gendered violence, with at least ten First Nations women killed in alleged domestic violence attacks in the last year.

Of the at least 476 First Nations women killed since 1989, a third were Territorian, according to a report by Australian Institute of Criminology.

It has been described as a "national shame" by coroner Elisabeth Armitage, with the lack of reporting about murdered Indigenous women in comparison to non-Indigenous women was highlighted on ABC's Media Watch in November.

Coroner Armitage released her findings in November into the domestic violence-related deaths of Territory women Kumanjayi Haywood, Ngeygo Ragurrk, Miss Yunupiŋu and Kumarn Rubuntja, described as "truly shocking" by counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer SC.

2024 also saw federal politicians descend on northeast Arnhem Land for the first Garma festival since the failed Voice referendum.

The festival was marked by Police Commissioner Michael Murphy's apology to Aboriginal Territorians for the "the past harms and the injustices caused by members of the Northern Territory Police".

His apology came after a series of explosive revelations about racism in the NT police during the inquest into the death of Warlpiri-Luritja man Kumanjayi Walker.

The festival also saw the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticised for failing to guarantee the enactment of the other two aspects of the Makarrata commission: Treaty and truth-telling.

He instead argued talking to Indigenous organisations - including land councils, was the best way to engage with First Nations people, as opposed to setting up a formal commission to oversee agreements and truth-telling.