Australian territory stops use of hoods, restraints on youth detainees

A frame grab from Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Four Corners programme broadcast in Australia on July 25, 2016 which alleged that a teenage boy was hooded and strapped into a chair at a youth detention centre in the Northern Territory city of Darwin. The Australian government ordered an inquiry on July 26 after graphic evidence emerged. AFP / Australian Broadcasting Corp’s Four CornersShow less

SYDNEY // Australia’s Northern Territory suspended the use of hoods and restraints on children on Wednesday as prime minister Malcolm Turnbull resisted pressure to broaden an inquiry into mistreatment in youth detention centres.

Mr Turnbull ordered the inquiry on Tuesday after national television aired video showing guards at a juvenile detention centre tear-gassing teenage aboriginal inmates and strapping a half-naked, hooded boy to a chair.

“Whether the chair is the right thing or not, I’m putting to review. I’ve stopped its use,” Northern Territory chief minister Adam Giles said on Wednesday.

“Let’s stop use of the spit masks until we take advice,” he said, referring to the kind of hood that was placed on the boy in the footage, covering his neck and head.

The footage showing abuse of six aboriginal boys was shot between 2010 and 2014 at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre near Darwin.

It also showed boys being stripped naked, thrown by the neck into a cell, and held for long periods in solitary confinement.

The case highlights concern about the disproportionate numbers of aboriginal youth in custody, with one indigenous leader calling for politicians to deal with the wider issue of crime within the community.

According to Australia Bureau of Statistics figures, as of June 2006 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians made up 30 per cent of the Northern Territory’s population. Yet Aborigines make up 94 per cent of the territory’s juvenile inmates.

“If you’re just looking at abuses in the system you’re not going to resolve the bigger issue,” said Warren Mundine, who heads the prime minister’s indigenous advisory council.

“We need to deal with crime rates within indigenous communities ... you just can’t do one without the other.”

But the prime minister resisted calls for the investigation to tackle wider issues.

“These inquiries need to have a very clear focus if they’re going to be effective,” Mr Turnbull said.

“This will be clearly focused on the Northern Territory and will be focused on the failings of the youth detention system there.”

* Reuters