Shadow Minister for Territory Families, Joshua Burgoyne, says it’s alarming that more than 80
Youth Justice Officers have been attacked by detainees at Don Dale in just three months.
“Opposition questioning has revealed that between 1 January and 9 April 2021 there have
been a total of 83 incidents involving youth offenders assaulting Youth Justice Officers.
“Those figures are broken down further to 66 assaults against Youth Justice Officers with no
injury, and 17 assaults against Youth Justice Officers where they were injured.
“We’d like to know what assault with ‘no injury’ actually means. Does it include spitting and
other bodily fluids? Were these youths charged? What was the outcome of each incident?
“We also asked the Territory Families Minister about personal protective equipment (PPE)
provided to Youth Justice Officers at Don Dale. The department told us face shields, gloves
and fluid suits – to protect from spitting and urine – are currently being used.
“In what appears to be a blunt admission that there is a serious problem with the safety of
Youth Justice Officers, the department is beefing up that PPE and will provide ‘turtle humane
shields’ (child friendly padded shields), armadillo full length shields, helmets, protective riot
suits and puncture proof vests, from this month.
“This level of violence is completely unacceptable and we will be quizzing the Territory
Minister extensively about staff safety at both Don Dale and the Alice Springs Youth detention
facility when she appears at Estimates this week,” said Mr Burgoyne.
ENDS