David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

First of all, I want to commend the words and the work of my colleague, Senator Cox. I endorse everything she's said. I want to be clear. When we were up in the NT, on the missing and murdered women and children inquiry, what we heard from all of the services, from all of the communities, was that they are in desperate need of investment in housing, in economic empowerment and in health care. To deal with the crisis of domestic violence, services for women and children are desperately needed. That's investment that's needed urgently.

Just this week, we heard from the NT children's commissioner, from a jurisdiction where up to 100 per cent of kids in custody are First Nations, where the UN has called out the abuse in NT prisons. This is what the NT children's commissioner said:

Therapeutic models of youth justice are not ideological; they are evidence based … We know that once a child enters the formal system—

the criminal justice system—

they are more likely to return, particularly if they are detained. In contrast, youth diversionary programs and alternative responses that operate outside of the … court system are more effective in helping children get their lives back on track …

Let's have more of that— (Time expired)