The Country Liberal Party (CLP) has unveiled its Plan for a Safe Territory, aiming to overhaul the corrections system in the Northern Territory. The plan prioritizes addressing prison overcrowding, rehabilitating offenders, and providing them with essential life skills to prevent reoffending.
Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro emphasized that the CLP is committed to ensuring that individuals who commit crimes face tangible consequences, which may include imprisonment, skill development, job readiness, or mandatory community service.
Key initiatives outlined in the plan include constructing two new women’s prisons in Alice Springs and Darwin, establishing two adult prisoner work camps, introducing a new Work in the Community Home Detention program, and implementing a Sentenced to a Skill program. Additionally, there will be compulsory alcohol, drug, and behavioural change rehabilitation for offences with sentences exceeding three months.
The plan also entails the establishment of a standalone Corrections agency, incorporating youth justice. Moreover, the CLP intends to bolster the Sentenced to a Job program and introduce mandatory community service for youth offenders.
Furthermore, the CLP plans to set up two Youth Boot Camps in Darwin and Alice Springs, with all future prisons to be located at Holtze. Opposition Leader Finocchiaro affirmed that the CLP will expedite the scope and design work for the new women’s prisons to commence construction promptly.
Member for Barkly and Shadow Justice Minister Steve Edgington highlighted the plan’s potential to free up approximately 270 prison beds across the Northern Territory. He criticized the Labor party for neglecting investments in corrections and failing to address increasing prisoner numbers. Edgington stressed the importance of the Sentenced to a Skill program in offering youth offenders a chance to break the cycle of crime and emphasized the CLP’s commitment to delivering Youth Boot Camps, contrasting it with Labor’s unfulfilled promises over the years.
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