Alice Springs youth detention centre to re-open in coming weeks

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Northern Territory Chief Minister and Territory Families Minister have toured the redeveloped Alice Springs youth detention centre, which is expected to open in coming weeks.

Transcript

00:00 It's a milestone reflecting a grim reality.

00:05 The Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre expansion is nearing completion to keep up with the

00:10 growing need to house young offenders.

00:13 We want young people to thrive in the Northern Territory, to have great lives in the Northern

00:18 Territory, to be young people that can contribute to our communities but to be working in the

00:24 Territory.

00:25 It's hoped the 22-person facility, designed with access to education and rehabilitation

00:30 services will give young offenders the best chance to turn their lives around and allow

00:36 those forcibly sent away to Darwin's Dondale Detention Centre to return to Central Australia.

00:42 I'm really committed to bringing them back to country so that they're closer to family

00:45 as soon as possible and we look forward to that occurring over the coming weeks.

00:49 The facility was cast into the spotlight following a 2016 Royal Commission which highlighted

00:55 a series of violent incidents and issues of overcrowding.

00:59 The NT government is promising a system-wide review of youth justice will be completed

01:03 after the August election but critics say it's little more than empty platitudes.

01:10 It was Labor who made the changes to the Youth Justice Act back in 2019 and the community

01:15 is now seeing the consequence of those changes with increasing youth crime, increasing anti-social

01:22 issues.

01:23 It's like there's a cliff running through Alice Springs and what we're doing is we're

01:27 buying more and more ambulances to put at the bottom of it whereas we should be putting

01:31 a fence at the top.

01:33 When the Northern Territory Government first announced the redevelopment of the facility

01:37 in 2020 it said it would cost $13 million but almost four years later and following

01:43 a redesign to expand capacity, the cost of the refurbishment has blown out to more than

01:48 $30 million.

01:49 The Chief Minister did not give a date for the closure of Dondale but said it would occur

01:53 as soon as possible.

01:55 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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