26.07.2016 - 09:41
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he will establish a royal commission into Northern Territory juvenile detention after revelations raised on ABC’s Four Corners program that have also led to the minister responsible for the detainees being sacked.
This morning NT Chief Minister Adam Giles said he was “shocked and disgusted” by the details of mistreatment outlined in the program, and announced that John Elferink, the Territory’s Corrections Minister, had been sacked.
The Four Corners report, which contained graphic footage of prison guards stripping, assaulting and mistreating a teenage boy, who was one of six children tear-gassed at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Darwin in 2014, sparked widespread outrage, with Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs calling for an independent inquiry into the treatment of Northern Territory children in detention.
Mr Turnbull announced this morning that a royal commission would look into the allegations.
“This is a shocking state of affairs and we will move quickly to establish what happened; as Gillian Triggs said last night, this needs a thorough inquiry,” he said.
“Like all Australians, I have been deeply shocked, shocked and appalled by the images of mistreatment at the Don Dale Centre.
