“If this was happening to children in NSW or Victoria, particularly if it was happening to non-Indigenous children in those states, it would be on the front page of every newspaper.”

This is Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) NT branch co-chair Dr Sarah Dorrington on the NT Government’s latest youth justice plan.

In the past two years, the government has lowered the age of criminal responsibility to 10 and reinstated spit hoods in prisons.

Now, a bill to amend the NT Youth Justice Act would mean children charged with an offence could be held in police watch houses for up to 48 hours.