The Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory is a Royal Commission established in 2016 by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

pursuant to the ''

Royal Commissions Act 1902 The Royal Commissions Act 1902 is an Australian Act of Parliament which authorises the Australian Governor-General of Australia, Governor-General to initiate an investigation, referred to as a Royal Commission. Royal Commissions are a major indep ...

'' to inquire into and report upon failings in the child protection and youth detention systems of the

Government of the Northern Territory The Government of the Northern Territory of Australia, also referred to as the Northern Territory Government, is the Australian territorial democratic administrative authority of the Northern Territory. The Government of Northern Territory wa ...

. The establishment of the commission followed revelations broadcast on 25 July 2016 by the ABC TV ''

Four Corners The Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. The Four Corners area ...

'' program which showed abuse of juveniles held in the

Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre The Don Dale Youth Detention Centre is a facility for juvenile detention in the Northern Territory, Australia, located in Berrimah, east of Darwin. It is a detention centre for male and female juvenile delinquents. The facility is named after D ...

in Darwin.

Letters Patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

for the Royal Commission were issued on 28 July 2016 and reissued on 1 August appointing joint Commissioners

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...

Margaret White and

Mick Gooda Mick Gooda is an Aboriginal Australian public servant including serving as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner of the Australian Human Rights Commission from 2009 to 2016 and Co-Commissioner of the Royal Commission ...

. The final report for the Royal Commission was tabled to the Australian Parliament on 17 November 2017.

Background

On 25 July 2016, the ABC ''Four Corners'' investigative program aired an episode titled "

Australia's Shame "Australia's Shame" is the title of an episode of the long-running Australian investigative journalism and current affairs program ''Four Corners'', which aired on the ABC on 25 July 2016. Written by ABC journalists Caro Meldrum-Hanna and Elis ...

". The program featured youth held in the Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre in Darwin. The following morning, Prime Minister Turnbull announced that there would be a Royal Commission into the Northern Territory juvenile detention system. Turnbull stated on ABC Radio that the Royal Commission would be set up "as soon as possible" and the relevant parties would make moves "very quickly". He further stated that "Like all Australians, we are shocked by the report, by that evidence on ''Four Corners'' last night. We have moved swiftly to get to the bottom of it. We need to get all the facts out as quickly as we can. We need to expose the cultural problems, the administrative problems that allowed this type of mistreatment to occur." When questioned about whether or not the Northern Territory government itself should be investigated, Turnbull pressed that "the important thing is to get to the bottom of what happened at Don Dale." On 28 July 2016, Turnbull named

Brian Ross Martin Brian Ross Martin (born 2 September 1947) is an Australian jurist. He was a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia before being appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory in 2004. He served in the Northern ...

, a former Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court of the Northern Territory The Supreme Court of the Northern Territory is the superior court for the Australian Territory of the Northern Territory. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the territory in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. It is aro ...

, as commissioner to conduct the inquiry and announced the terms of reference. Martin resigned as commissioner four days after being appointed due to community and political pressure over his appointment, saying that "rightly or wrongly, in this role I would not have the full confidence of sections of the Indigenous community which has a vital interest in this inquiry." The

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

George Brandis George Henry Brandis (born 22 June 1957) is a former Australian politician. He was a Senator for Queensland from 2000 to 2018, representing the Liberal Party, and was a cabinet minister in the Abbott and Turnbull governments. He was later Hi ...

appointed the replacement joint Commissioners

Margaret White and

that same day. Brandis stated that the royal commission would examine the period since the Northern Territory ''Youth Justice Act'' came into operation in 2006 and focus on why two reports into the youth justice system — including one relating to the Don Dale Centre — were not sufficiently followed up. The two reports are the ''Review of the Northern Territory Youth Detention System Report'' of January 2015 and the ''Report of the Office of the Children's Commissioner of the Northern Territory about services at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre'' of August 2015.

Terms of reference

On 28 July 2016,

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Sir

Peter Cosgrove General Sir Peter John Cosgrove, (born 28 July 1947) is a retired senior Australian Army officer who served as the 26th governor-general of Australia, in office from 2014 to 2019. A graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Cosgrove fo ...

issued Commonwealth

appointing Martin as commissioner and the commission's

terms of reference Terms of reference (TOR) define the purpose and structures of a project, committee, meeting, negotiation, or any similar collection of people who have agreed to work together to accomplish a shared goal. Terms of reference show how the object in ...

. The commissioner was directed to examine "...failings in the child protection and youth detention systems of the Government of the Northern Territory; the effectiveness of any oversight mechanisms and safeguards to ensure the treatment of detainees was appropriate; cultural and management issues that may exist within the Northern Territory youth detention system; whether the treatment of detainees breached laws or the detainees’ human rights; and whether more should have been done by the Government of the Northern Territory to take appropriate measures to prevent the reoccurrence of inappropriate treatment." Despite the Northern Territory having its own government, the Territory is officially administered under the Commonwealth of Australia, and the Commonwealth Letters Patent covered its jurisdiction. The executive of the

Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) is a healthcare policy organisation that serves Aboriginal communities in Australia's Northern Territory. It is an independent, not-for-profit group that is funded by Australi ...

said that Turnbull undermined the royal commission by permitting

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Adam Giles Adam Graham Giles (born 10 April 1973) is an Australian former politician and former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (2013–2016) as well as the former leader of the Country Liberal Party (CLP) in the unicameral Northern Territory Par ...

, who had ultimate responsibility for the events at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, to have a say in drawing up the terms of reference. Peak Aboriginal organisations, including the

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

and

Central Land Council The Central Land Council (CLC) is a land council that represents the Aboriginal peoples of the southern half of the Northern Territory of Australia (NT), predominantly with regard to land issues. it is one of four land councils in the Northern Te ...

s, AMSANT, the

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: * Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

and legal groups, were also critical of Martin's appointment. The federal Opposition said they were not consulted in the drawing up of the terms of reference, and called for the appointment of two Indigenous co-commissioners. As a result of the resignation of Martin on 1 August 2016,

Sir

issued Commonwealth

appointing White and Gooda as joint Commissioners and the Commission's

. The Commissioners have been directed to examine "...failings in the child protection and youth detention systems of the Government of the Northern Territory; the effectiveness of any oversight mechanisms and safeguards to ensure the treatment of detainees was appropriate; cultural and management issues that may exist within the Northern Territory youth detention system; whether the treatment of detainees breached laws or the detainees’ human rights; and whether more should have been done by the Government of the Northern Territory to take appropriate measures to prevent the reoccurrence of inappropriate treatment.

Procedures and methods

Powers

The powers of Royal Commissions in Australia are set out in the enabling legislation, the . Royal Commissions, appointed pursuant to the ''Royal Commissions Act'' or otherwise, have powers to issue a

summons A summons (also known in England and Wales as a claim form and in the Australian state of New South Wales as a court attendance notice (CAN)) is a legal document issued by a court (a ''judicial summons'') or by an administrative agency of governme ...

to a person to appear before the Commission at a hearing to give evidence or to produce documents specified in the summons; require witnesses to take an oath or give an affirmation; and require a person to deliver documents to the Commission at a specified place and time. A person served with a summons or a notice to produce documents must comply with that requirement, or face prosecution for an offence. The penalty for conviction upon such an offence is a fine of or six months imprisonment. A Royal Commission may authorise the

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. Th ...

to execute

search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find. In most countries, ...

References

External links

* {{Commonwealth of Australia Royal Commissions

Juvenile Detention in the Northern Territory Juvenile detention in the Northern Territory is administered by Minister for Territory Families, Territory Families, since a departmental reorganisation following the Labor victory at the August 2016 Northern Territory general election. Juvenile ...

2016 establishments in Australia Crime in the Northern Territory

Penal system in the Northern Territory Politics of the Northern Territory Juvenile law 2017 disestablishments in Australia