The Northern Territory Country-Liberal Party government passed the controversial Youth Justice and Criminal Code Amendment Bill 2026 on July 22.
This bill weakens several safeguards for children charged with a crime in the NT. It allows a child to be detained in a police watch house for up to 48 hours after they have been charged if it is “not reasonably practicable” to take them to a detention centre.
Prior to this, children could only be detained by police for up to 24 hours after being charged, unless a judge granted an extension of time.
The amendments also allow police to interrogate a child if the police suspect the they have “knowledge in relation to an offence”. Previously, police could only interrogate a child if the police believed the child had “committed or [was] implicated in the commission of an offence”.
If the matter is “a serious and urgent matter concerning public safety”, police can also now interrogate a child without a support person present.
Previously, police could not interrogate a child without informing them of their right to have somebody with them.
Alyawarre-Waka Waka woman and Grandmother Against Removals Junella Scott told Green Left that the amendments were “criminal”.
“That definitely is child abuse from where I see it, interrogating children without a responsible adult present. It’s terrifying for an adult to get locked up, [but] imagine a 10-year-old child? We have to educate our kids so they say nothing if they get picked up by the police.”
NT police watch houses are notorious for their inhumane conditions, including overcrowding, no access to natural light and no privacy for relieving oneself.
“Keeping a child in there for 48 hours will have an effect on them mentally,” said Scott.
In the same sitting week, the NT CLP government passed racist changes to the NT’s child protection system, despite overwhelming community opposition. The changes include removing the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle and lowering the threshold for child removal.
The CLP government’s punitive law-reform agenda overwhelmingly impacts First Nations people. Harsh changes to sentencing and bail laws last year led to a record high incarceration rate.
First Nations children continue to bear the brunt of the CLP’s cruelty. The overwhelming majority of children in “out-of-home care” are Aboriginal, as are the overwhelming majority of children in youth detention centres.