Controversial restraint devices will again be used in the Northern Territory on children who spit at police and corrections workers.
Spit hoods were banned in NT youth detention centres following a landmark royal commission in 2016 and were subsequently eliminated in South Australia and NSW in all custodial settings.
However, while they were prohibited in youth detention centres, they were only operationally banned by the former Labor government for Territory police.
Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said on Monday the ban on officers using the restraints had ended.
“We will be introducing spit [hoods] this week, back into use in the Northern Territory — just in our watch house facilities,” he said.
“In the last three months alone, 68 police have been assaulted, 20 counts of spitting, which is absolutely abhorrent, and 40, usually punching or kicking or with weapons,” he said.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro campaigned hard on law and order before being elected to the top job in August.
She promised to reinstate the use of spit hoods when parliament sat for the first time this week, as well as lower the criminal age of responsibility back to 10.
NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro promised to reinstate the use of spit hoods when parliament sat for the first time this week. Source: AAP / (A)manda Parkinson
But Labor’s former attorney-general, the member for Gowja, Chansey Paech, said the opposition was concerned about the sweeping repeals.
“Let’s be clear, the CLP is a government that is allergic to evidence,” he said. “They are walking away from the evidence of experts and recommendations from royal commissions.”
Corrections commissioner Matthew Varley confirmed he was also aware the youth justice act would be amended in parliament in the next two weeks to reinstate the use of spit hoods in youth detention facilities.
“Spitting on anyone is unacceptable and can be a distressing experience, including for our [workers],” he said.
Current policies and training would need to be in line with any amendments, Varley said, but his focus would be the ongoing safety of young people, visitors and staff.
NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said the use of spit hoods would be reinstated this week in NT youth detention facilities. Source: AAP / (A)manda Parkinson
Children’s commissioner ‘deeply concerned’
The proposed changes have “deeply concerned” Northern Territory children’s commissioner and Larrakia woman Shahleena Musk, whose office has long opposed the use of the devices.
“Irrespective of whether these devices are called spit hoods or spit guards, they are proven to cause irreparable harm and must not be used on children in police custody or in youth detention,” she said.
“The use of spit hoods creates a large risk of injury or death to the wearer, with spit hoods implicated in numerous deaths in custody.”
Last year, the NT police watchdog released a review of 30 incidents involving the use of spit hoods on children from 2020 to 2021 and found police had often improperly used the “extraordinary restraints” and failed to adequately de-escalate situations.
NT Ombudsman Peter Shoyer recommended the devices not be used in any settings.
The United Nations committee against torture recommended that Australia “take all necessary measures to end the use of spit hoods in all circumstances, across all jurisdictions”.
