An inquiry into youth justice hearings in Darwin this week will proceed without any Northern Territory government departments appearing or making submissions, despite the over-representation of Indigenous children in custody in the NT.
First Nations children and young people in the Territory are incarcerated at 27 times the rate of non-Indigenous children, while the rate of 10 to 13-year-olds in detention on an average day is the highest in the country and almost double the national rate.
This week, the Senate inquiry into the youth justice and incarceration system will hear from advocates, medical and child experts, and lawyers in the Territory, but no government agency or official.
At hearings in New South Wales earlier this month, Youth Justice officials, including the executive director, appeared in person, while the Attorney-General's Department and the National Indigenous Australians Agency have made a joint submission to the inquiry.
The NT Department of Corrections was asked by National Indigenous Times whether it had made, or had been asked to make, a submission or appear before the inquiry. A spokesperson for the Department confirmed they were not appearing at the inquiry, nor making a submission.
"The Department is committed to operating the NT's youth justice system in accordance with the established legal frameworks of the Northern Territory and engages regularly with a broad range of stakeholders to support continual improvement across the system," they said.
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The absence comes as the CLP government has faced criticism over a series of youth justice changes since taking office in 2024, including lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10, strengthening bail laws and reintroducing spit hoods in youth justice settings.
Appearing at the NSW hearings earlier this month, former Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds said that while conducting her "Help Way Earlier" report into child justice between 2023 and 2024, she witnessed things she could not "unsee".
"At a Northern Territory police watch house last year, I asked, 'What do you do when the children are in psychological distress?'," Ms Hollonds said. "I was told they use the restraint chair."
Infamously used in the case of Dylan Voller, the image of the young man strapped to a chair with a spit hood over his head prompted the Don Dale Royal Commission. Many recommendations from that inquiry — including the abolishment of spit hoods — have since been reversed or remain unimplemented.
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In a strongly worded second submission to the inquiry, the Northern Australia Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA), which will appear on Wednesday, expanded on evidence first given in 2024, highlighting rising incarceration rates, extended periods on remand and violent assaults in custody across the Territory.
The organisation said government changes had led to "worsening youth justice outcomes, unmet care needs, and the further criminalisation of Aboriginal children and families", adding they were "all of which are widening the gap, not closing it".
Earlier this year, the United Nations Human Rights Council, in its five-yearly Universal Periodic Review of Australia, raised concerns about the "almost constant increase" in the number of people held on remand and the country's "very low age of criminal responsibility".
NT Department of Corrections data shows the youth detention rate in the Territory has doubled over the past year, alongside a sharp rise in the number of children and teenagers held in police watch houses.
In its submission, NAAJA noted, "almost 400 Aboriginal young people were held in NT police watch houses over a six-month period in 2025, despite the widely reported human rights issues concerning the operation of these facilities".
Most were held on remand, with the average remand period reaching 56 days. Many were never convicted. One child aged between 10 and 14 spent more than 238 days on remand before charges were ultimately dismissed.
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There is also concern about the centralisation of youth detention, with most children transferred to Darwin's Holtze Youth Detention Centre.
Under the former Labor government's reduced-capacity plan for the Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre, most children on remand or sentenced are moved to Darwin — often more than 1,500 kilometres from their home communities in Central Australia.
FOI data revealed by the ABC showed at least nine youths have been hospitalised after self-harming at the facility, and two have been sexually assaulted.
In January, the Territory's Children's Commissioner, Shahleena Musk, said relocating children away from family, culture and Country "directly contradicts best practice for reducing risks linked to re-offending" and came after media reports last year alleged children in Central Australia were being transferred north without their families' knowledge.
The Department of Corrections has said its policy is not to transfer children between facilities before attempting to consult the "relevant adults" involved in their care, but has acknowledged there is no legal requirement to notify guardians.
Commissioner Musk, a former Crown Prosecutor in the Northern Territory and Western Australia who will appear before the inquiry on Tuesday, has said the Department of Corrections' operations, policies and practices fail to meet international or national standards, as well as its own Youth Detention Model of Care.
"The concentration of youth detention in the one facility in Darwin undermines rehabilitation, family, community and cultural connection, and reintegration outcomes for Central Australian young people," she said earlier this year.
"It is completely unacceptable that in many cases families of young people are not contacted prior to their transfer. This cannot not continue and must be addressed immediately."
Her inquiry made numerous recommendations to the Department, none of which were accepted in full.
"It is incredibly disappointing that the Department of Corrections has not accepted any recommendations made by the Inquiry, including simply following their own existing policies and procedures, and committing to ensuring young people have access to interpreters for key decisions," Commissioner Musk said at the time.
This article was updated on April 28 to include comments from the NT Department of Corrections.
