Following the alleged murder of a small-business owner in Darwin on April 23 by an 18 year old on bail, the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party recalled Parliament to pass what it boasted are the “strongest” bail laws in Australia.
The Bail and Youth Justice Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 passed supported by Labor and the Greens in an emergency sitting on April 30.
The amendments introduce a new test for bail under which the court must have a “high degree of confidence” that a person will not endanger the safety of the community before they will be released on bail. The amendments also remove the requirement for judges to deem imprisonment a measure of last resort for youth.
Children as young as 10 can be incarcerated in the NT. First Nations people make up the overwhelming majority of prisoners in the NT.
Independent MLA Yingiya Guyula, who was absent from the chamber for medical reasons, was the only MP to oppose the bill. Fellow independent MLA Justine Davis, who abstained because she said she had had no opportunity to consult on it, read out his statement.
“I do not support the Bill before the Assembly today. I urge the government and the Assembly not to pass the most severe bail laws in Australia until more work is done to create strong, rehabilitative pathways through community-led solutions,” Yingiya Guyula said.
Prisoner numbers in the NT have already reached a record high, with almost half of all prisoners being on remand. These bail reforms will result in a further increase of the remand population. The conditions inside NT prisons are so bad that Guyula has made a complaint to the United Nations.
“Where will all these people fit when our prisons are already full and completely failing to help rehabilitate people? What happens when a jail system in crisis collapses?”
Guyula emphasised the double standards in the urgency with which “tough on crime” measures are rolled out. “The government is rushing to strengthen bail laws but maybe it should be rushing to strengthen community-led solutions. Maybe if all governments had done this previously we would not be seeing full jails and this tragedy.”
The CLP delivered its budget on May 13, boasting its “biggest ever” spend on law and order. The budget includes an extra $37.3 million for police, and more than $200 million for corrections, to deal with the rising costs associated with the government’s own “tough on crime” agenda.
The CLP claims it is “tackling the root causes of crime”. But it involves punishing First Nations families and communities; its school attendance officer policy, for instance, fines parents if their children do not attend school and they are also threatened with referral to an income management scheme.
Guyula has been a lonely voice in the NT Parliament, since 2016, calling for structural change and genuine partnerships to address community safety.
“I have spent eight years talking to deaf governments that do not understand that we need resources and decision-making power on country so that we can address these problems when they begin. Governments have ignored the problems in our communities and ignored our voices,” he told parliament on April 30.
Guyula highlighted the negative impact of local and federal policies, such as the NT Intervention, that have curbed First Nations autonomy and cultural authority.
“Our right to make decisions for our people was stripped from us by the changes that both parties, Labor and the CLP, made when they were in government. Labor removed our community councils; federal governments brought the intervention and Stronger Futures; and all governments continue to neglect our homelands.
“Many of us call this generation the ‘Children of the Intervention’, because they have grown up during this time of Aboriginal disempowerment when the government took our authority to make decisions for our people and run our communities.”