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Australia's royal commission will look into possible systematic failure in NT juvenile detention centers

Xinhua, July 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

The royal commission on the Northern Territory's juvenile detention centers will look into a broad scope of aspects, including the whole justice system and culture, when investigating the scandal, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said at a press conference in Canberra on Thursday.

Former Supreme Court judge Brian Ross Martin has been appointed as head of the royal commission, which was announced by the prime minister on Tuesday morning hours after the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC)'s investigative program "Four Corners" revealed on Monday night that teenagers in Don Dale juvenile detention center in the Northern Territory had been brutally abused.

At the first cabinet meeting after the election Thursday morning, ministers have agreed on the royal commission inquiry's terms of reference.

Attorney-General George Brandis outlined the terms of reference, saying the inquiry will examine the treatment of children detained at all youth detention facilities run by the NT government, including but not limited to the Don Dale facility.

It will also look into whether any such treatment might have breached federal or NT law, human rights obligations, duty of care or any other rules; what mechanisms and safeguards were in place and why they failed; whether there were "any deficiencies of the organisational culture" in NT youth detention facilities"; and whether more should have been done by the NT government.

Turnbull said it was important to recognise that 95 percent of juvenile detainees in the Northern Territory were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people.

Martin then said at the press conference that whether racism does or doesn't play a role will be a part of the inquiry.

Turnbull refused to extend the royal commission inquiry beyond the Northern Territory, saying he would like to see the inquiry drags on like many previous royal commission inquiries do.

The commission is expected to report to government on March 31, but Martin said he would request extra time if needed.

"That is tight when one looks at the breadth of the terms of reference," he told reporters. "But given some hard work, hopefully we'll meet it." Endit