NT corrections minister dumped after release of sickening videos
John Elfernik, the man in charge of the Northern Territory’s juvenile justice system, has been dumped after footage was leaked revealing the sickening treatment of children inside a Darwin detention centre.
Elfernik has been replaced with the territory’s Chief Minister Adam Giles.
NT detention centre likened to Guantanamo Bay after footage shows boys gassed, stripped and shackled
Mr Giles said he would also be permanently appointing an inspector-general for corrections.
A series of horrific videos were released by ABC's Four Corners on Monday night showing teenage boys subjected to tear gas and restraining chairs, with one boy shackled to a chair half naked for two hours.
Elfernik defended the actions of the guards on the Four Corners episode, saying the behaviour of the teenagers prompted the response from the officers.
"When kids arm themselves with broken glass, when kids arm themselves with metal bars, then reasonable force has to be brought to bear upon them, to subdue them," he said.
He claimed he had not seen many of the videos brought before him by the ABC.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced a royal commission into the juvenile correction system after an outcry from the nation on Tuesday.
He said he was "deeply shocked, shocked and appalled by the images of mistreatment at the Don Dale Centre".
"We will get to the bottom of what happened here, we want to know how this came about, we want to know what lessons can be learnt from it, we want to know why there were inquiries into this centre which did not turn up the evidence and the information that we saw on Four Corners last night," he said.
In another video, six boys were tear gassed after a teenager got out of his cell and began throwing a light fixture at the wall.
One of the guards could be heard saying, “I’ll pulverise the f***er”, before blasting up to 10 round of tear gas into the room.
