Youth courts as Territorians know them would be abolished, detention centres replaced with boarding schools and Indigenous Elders put back in charge of administering justice, under a bold new plan to address the NT’s consistently high crime rate.

Carol Pettersen, an Albany Nyoongar woman and National Elder of the Year in 2008, has spent the past decade developing the plan with the CEO of Deadly Guardians, Keith Gregory.

The ambitious plan has been raised with Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt, but could still be a while before being adopted by the NT Government.

Taking the initiative to acting NT Children’s Commissioner Sally Sievers, and the Department of the Attorney General and Justice shortly, the program’s organisers say the plan could be transformative for the NT.

“Don Dale (Youth Detention Centre) and white systems are not the answer,” Mr Gregory said.

“Crime is intergenerational, we can see these groups have been disenfranchised and have found themselves in a situation where they can’t address their challenges.

“We want the community themselves to determine the challenges and solutions and those solutions to be driven by Elders and children.”

The plan is underpinned by the notion that education, health and commerce are paramount in creating monumental shifts in society, decision making must be given back to community leaders, and a voice to government must be established.

“What we are proposing is going to take a long time,” Mr Gregory said, “but it is a proposal that will work – we believe that if an army sees its leaders as defeated, it will never win the war.”

Punishments for youth offenders turned into a ‘transformative positive’

The grassroots youth crime initiative would involve establishing clan groups and codes of conduct.

Children would be encouraged to go to school, eat healthy, exercise and behave by an online “guardian”, and would earn points and rewards.

Parents would be encouraged to sign up, but for those who “rebel”, Mr Gregory surmised community pressure would eventually win.

In the instance a youth commits a crime, punishment will be turned into a “transformative positive”, and the justice system would not be involved.

Instead, children would attend an academy, run by ex-Indigenous police, Rangers and ex-Indigenous Norforce members, for the remainder of their schooling.

Rejecting the notion the academy could result in a second stolen generation, Mr Gregory said the current system, whereby youth who commit a crime are put on youth diversion programs, has “no end game”.

“The problem with youth diversion is there is no end game, there is no education. Bush camps don’t chart a future,” he said.

“We know that kids start mucking up when they don’t go to school and when there are issues at home.

“The idea is the academy becomes a positive place, it is about teaching kids to be proud of their culture and it is about creating unity.”

Still in the planning stages with funding to come from a manufacturing enterprise Mr Gregory has started that would sell disinfectant products, he said there is scope to build academies across the Territory depending on need.

The problems with the NT’s youth justice system were laid bare in the 2016 ABC Four Corners program entitled ‘Australia’s Shame’ and highlighted during the subsequent Royal Commission into Youth Detention in the NT.

Despite a recommendation to decommission the Don Dale facility, it is currently still in operation while a new premises is built on land near the adult Holtze prison – which contravenes another recommendation of the commission not to build near the adult jail.

The current centre, located in Berrimah, has a capacity of 38, which Mr Gregory said was a problem he would like to help by providing a “thorough care model to stop reoffending”.

‘Back on Track’ diversion program has ‘clearly not yet worked’, Elders need to be involved: Keith Gregory

And the NT Government’s youth diversion program Back on Track for young people ages 10 – 17, is run by a number of partnering organisations across the Territory, but capacity is limited, he said.

According to the government website: ”Back on Track provides the courts with another option to sentence young people (10–17 years) to as an alternative to detention.

“The program addresses at-risk behaviour, consequences and restitution, life skills and cultural connection, family capacity and responsibility. It also supports re-engagement with education, training and employment.

“The program includes a holistic service co-ordination model based on four elements aimed at equipping the young person with the skills needed to deter them from reoffending.”

Mr Gregory said government systems are not the answer, and have “clearly not yet worked”.

“The answer is allowing Elders to lead again and supporting that leadership,” he said.

“Prosecution won’t change anything, but our plan will provide pathways to success.

“We know health and economic development or having a job is based on being proud of yourself.”

Mr Gregory said that with Minister Wyatt’s support, he is hoping the initiative will get some traction this week.

The Children’s Commissioner of the Northern Territory was contacted for this article, but said it was unable to comment on the matter yet.