Northern Territory Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro has strongly indicated the Country Liberal Party (CLP) will reverse bans on the use of spit hoods on children in the territory's youth detention centres if her party wins government in August.
Key points:
- Lia Finocchiaro says corrections staff in youth detention centres need protection
- The NT Police Association says frontline officers are regularly assaulted, spat on and bitten
- But the NT Children's Commissioner has warned the NT "must not go backwards" by re-introducing spit hoods
Just months away from an election where crime will be a pressing issue for voters, Ms Finocchiaro this week had a message for young offenders in detention: "If you don't want to have a spit hood put on you, then don't spit on our frontline workers".
Spit hoods — used to stop youth and adult prisoners spitting on and biting prison guards — were banned in NT youth detention centres more than six years ago after confronting images of a child strapped to a chair and wearing one in Darwin's Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, were broadcast across the nation.
The royal commission that followed recommended spit hoods be prohibited in youth prisons, but did not make recommendations about their use by police.
However in 2022, NT Police also ended their use of spit hoods on children in police custody, despite the police union maintaining they should remain in use.
"The CLP [Country Liberal Party] has been absolutely steadfast behind our police to return spit hoods for them," Ms Finocchiaro said.
"And certainly, in terms of corrections officers, that's something we absolutely would be supportive of.
"When you look at the rights of frontline workers, like corrections officers and police to be safe, versus the right of an offender to spit in their face, we have to be backing in our hardworking frontline workers."
Nathan Finn, the president of the NT Police Association (NTPA), said assaults on police that could be prevented by spit hoods were a "regular occurrence", and already just one month into 2024 two officers had been bitten and spat at by children in custody.
The Australian Federal Police ended its use of spit hoods last year following a review which found "they are ineffective in protecting against transmissible diseases".
However Mr Finn said they were a necessary option.
"When someone's spitting on [police] or actually trying to hurt them, [there aren't alternative options] other than physically restraining them and placing them in handcuffs, which obviously does some damage as well," Mr Finn said.
In the four years before the 2022 ban, NT Police said spit hoods had been used 27 times on children in police custody.
The youngest child was 12 years old.
NT Police would not provide data on how many times officers had been spat on or bitten since the ban, when asked by the ABC this week.
NT Children's Commissioner Shahleena Musk said while all frontline workers deserved to be safe at work, there was no evidence to suggest spit hoods increased safety.
"Police and youth justice workers should be provided with the training and resources to deliver more humane and effective responses to risk situations," she said.
"The Northern Territory must not go backwards, and step away from the evidence-based approach to spit hoods that has been adopted in recent times."
Noting spit hoods had been implicated in deaths in custody and could cause serious physical and psychological risks for children, Northern Territory Ombudsman Peter Shoyer last year called for the devices to be formally outlawed.
That same call has been coming for years from Latoya Aroha Rule, whose brother — 29-year-old Wayne Fella Morrison — died in 2016 after being restrained in a spit hood in South Australia.
Ms Rule, a leader of the National Ban Spit Hoods Coalition, said reinstating spit hoods in the NT "could lead to more deaths".
She said the risk of regression was "horrifying", after the UN Committee against Torture called for a complete legislative ban last year and as other states and territories clamp down on their use.
"This news is incredibly alarming, it feels like we are stepping backwards into archaic days," she said.
Annmarie Lumsden, the director of Legal Aid NT, said the use of spit hoods was "inhumane, degrading, and disproportionate to any alleged conduct by children".
"Let's be clear, in the Northern Territory, almost 100 per cent of children in detention are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children, " she said.
"It is wrong to subject these children to this cruel and harmful practice."
Ms Finocchiaro claimed spit hoods "have changed a lot over time and are now effectively a loose mesh netting" which only have "very minimal impact on the offender".
But Ms Rule said that claim was not backed by evidence.
Ms Lumsden said there were other effective ways to protect workers, including "comprehensive training in de-escalation techniques".
While the NT government has resisted calls to go as far as legislating a ban on spit hoods, Territory Families Minister Ngaree Ah Kit said the bans had been put in place for "very good reason".
She said police were already well-equipped to protect themselves.
"We have not needed those spit hoods since we ruled those out," she said.