Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has joined many Australians this morning in voicing his disgust about ABC footage which shows youths in Darwin detention centre being allegedly beaten, tear-gassed and abused.
Amoung the shocking CCTV footage aired by Four Corners on Monday night was the scene of one youth at the Don Dale youth detention centre in the Northern Territory stripped, hooded and restrained on mechanical chair.
Another boy appeared to be taunted by laughing guards who bragged about what was going on. The guard was heard saying to a coworker, “I’ll pulverise the f—er”.
There were also multiple instances depicting other young boys being beaten and mistreated by guards.
The video footage has been liked to that of prisoners at Abu Graib and after the report finished an online petition calling for an investigation was launched. It has thus far received more than 9000 signatures.
The PM this morning said he was “shocked and appalled” by what he saw.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
“I support the concept of a royal commission,” Mr Turnbull told reporters on Tuesday morning. “I think it’s got to go wider than just Don Dale. We’ve got to work out why 90 per cent of those kids in prison up there are Aboriginal.”
“Let’s have another intervention and put an administrator in the Northern Territory because it looks to me like they’re incapable of managing anything up there.”
Professor Gilllian Triggs on Q&A on Monday night.
Following the Four Corners’ report the president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, has also called for an inquiry into juvenile detention.
While sitting on the panel of the ABC’s Q&A program on Monday night, Professor Triggs said that the situation needed a “proper inquiry”.
“If one of us were to have been found to have treated our children in this way we would probably be charged with a criminal offence and the children taken away from us,” said Professer Triggs.
“I certainly think we need some kind of government-based independent commission, whether it’s a full royal commission or not I don’t know.”
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