All 38 children held in detention in the Northern Territory — 17 in Darwin’s Don Dale detention centre and 21 in Alice Springs — are Aboriginal, a parliamentary committee was told on June 20.
Deputy chief executive of the NT Families Department Jeanette Kerr was being questioned about how the rate of Aboriginal children in detention had changed since the Royal Commission into Juvenile Detention.
“As of today, 100% of the children in detention are Aboriginal,” she said. “The proportions have not changed since the royal commission."
The royal commission last year called for sweeping changes to address the "shocking and systemic failures" and recommended ending detention for children under 14, except for serious crimes.