Legal and justice experts and Senator Lidia Thorpe have warned of the danger proposed NT laws represent to children in the Territory.

Senator Thorpe, a Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent Victorian Senator, noted that the number of Indigenous people to die in custody since the Royal Commission brought down its findings in 1991 has now reached 602, with 17 deaths in 2025 to date.

She said this grim milestone was reached as the NT government is "pushing through laws targeting children which will remove detention as a last resort, reintroduce the use of spit hoods, and allow a child's history of interaction with the criminal legal system to follow them into adult life, among other changes".

Senator Thorpe said she is joining with First Nations organisations to call on the federal government to suspend federal funding to the Northern Territory for policing and prisons, until the Territory moves to reduce incarceration of First Peoples and children.

Reporting this week revealed almost 400 Indigenous children have been held in the NT police watch houses over a six-month period, and that nearly 20 incidents of self-harm involving children have occurred in these watch houses.

On Tuesday the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) said if passed, the a suite of amendments to the Youth Justice Act 2005 and Youth Justice Regulations 2006 to be introduced in the NT Parliament would see more children locked up in prison, and give prison guards more power to use force and dangerous tactics against them.

"The bill will remove the long-held principle that detention must be a last resort for children. It will grant greater powers to prison guards to use physical force, including the use of spit hoods - devices nationally and internationally recognised as cruel, degrading and inhumane," NATSILS warned.

NATSILS Chair Karly Warner said "We are talking about children… as young as 10 years old. Children who need our care, support and guidance – not to be locked away, subjected to force, and hooded".

NATSILS noted a recent report into the experiences of 10- to 13-year-olds in NT youth detention found every child had involvement with the child protection system, and nearly half had been diagnosed with multiple disabilities.

"These are children with complex, unmet needs. Children and their families who have been failed by the very decision-makers and systems meant to protect and support them – health, education, housing and child protection. These laws don't address those failures. They punish children for them," Ms Warner said.

"Not only are these proposed laws morally abhorrent, but they will also make communities less safe. The evidence is clear; locking children up increases the likelihood of ongoing contact with the criminal justice system. It is the system that is criminalising them. There is a mountain of local, national and international evidence that shows prevention, and intensive, trauma-informed, community-led support is what actually works. These proposed amendments to legislation do exactly the opposite."

Spit hoods were banned in NT youth prisons in 2017 following the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT – known as the Don Dale Inquiry. In 2016, Aboriginal man Wayne Fella Morrison died in South Australia after being restrained with a spit hood – sparking national outrage. The NT government plans to reintroduce their use – on children.

"The NT Government must listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, communities, and experts. These laws will disproportionately harm our children and the NT Government knows that," Ms Warner said.

"Investment in community-led supports for children and their families that prevent children from being criminalised in the first place is how we build safer, healthier communities – not through abuse and incarceration."

Amnesty International Australia Indigenous Rights Campaigner Kacey Teerman said the NT government cannot "abandon their obligations under human rights law".

"The NT government have a responsibility to uphold the human rights of all Territorians, including the rights of the child to not be detained except in cases of absolute last resort and to not be subjected to practices of torture, such as spit hoods," she said on Tuesday.

"Amnesty International holds serious concerns over recent reports that 20 children in NT youth detention facilities have self-harmed in the last six months. Youth detention centres in the Northern Territory are already over- flowing, putting the already vulnerable children at even greater risk.

"By removing the principle that children should only be detained as an absolute last resort, Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro is condemning more Territory children, the overwhelming majority of whom will be Aboriginal, to the trauma and lasting harm of incarceration. This does not make our communities safer or NT children and young people less likely to offend.

"Putting children in spit hoods is a torturous, dehumanising practice that causes lasting trauma, particularly for a child who is acutely distressed and unable to regulate their emotions and behaviour."

In 2022, the UN Committee Against Torture condemned practices used against children at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in the Northern Territory, accusing Australia of a "clear breach" of its obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, which Australia ratified in 2017.

The United Nations have called on Australia to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility and to immediately halt the use of solitary confinement for children in youth detention.

In addition to NATSILS and Amnesty International, the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA), the Northern and Central Land Councils, the Justice Reform Initiative, Justice Not Jails, and the National Network of Formerly Incarcerated Women and others have all called for the suspension of Commonwealth funding to the NT until they change direction. NAAJA has warned it is the only way to stem an escalating incarceration crisis.

New figures show the NT prison population has surged to 2,842 people, more than 600 higher than when the CLP took office. Almost 90 per cent are Aboriginal, and nearly half are being held on remand.

"Where does it end? When will the federal government show some guts and leadership and step in to stop this?" Senator Thorpe asked on Tuesday.

"This week the extremist NT CLP government is pushing through a tranche of laws designed to harm our children. These kinds of laws directly contribute to more deaths in custody.

"If the Northern Territory Government won't listen to the experts and communities, then the Commonwealth must act."

Senator Thorpe urged the Prime Minister and Minister Malarndirri McCarthy "to take strong action and immediately suspend federal funding until the NT stops abusing Aboriginal people".

"Shamefully in March, we saw the federal government give $205 million to the NT police, and incredibly the Albanese government branded this money as 'closing the gap' money… it should be withdrawn and reinvested into our communities and our services," she said.

"You can't close the gap by locking our kids in cages. The NT Government is violating the rights of children every day, and the federal government is funding it. That has to stop."