Hoods will again be used to restrain children in the Northern Territory, the police commissioner has confirmed.
The controversial devices were banned in NT youth detention centers following a landmark current commission in 2016 and were subsequently removed in South Australia and New South Wales in all prison settings.
However, while they were banned in NT youth detention centres, the previous Labor government only operationally banned them for police.
Liberal Party (CLP) Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said on Monday that the ban on officers using safety devices had ended.
“We are going to introduce saliva [hoods] this week, again in use in the Northern Territory, only at our surveillance facilities,” he said.
“In the last three months alone, 68 police officers have been attacked, 20 for spitting, which is absolutely abominable, and 40, generally for punching or kicking…” he stated.
The CLP's set of crime-based repeals would send a clear message to the public that attacking frontline workers and police is not acceptable, Murphy said.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro campaigned hard for law and order before being elected to the top job in August.
He promised to reinstate the use of spit hoods when parliament met for the first time this week, as well as lower the age of criminal responsibility.
“No other jurisdiction in this country has taken the steps that the previous Labor government took by abandoning young people under 12 and allowing them to freely commit crimes against innocent territories,” he said.
“These laws do not meet the expectations of communities and do not allow the government to intervene early in the lives of these young people when they commit such serious crimes.”
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Prisons Commissioner Matthew Varley knew the Youth Justice Act would be amended in parliament in the next two weeks to reinstate the use of spit hoods in youth detention centres.
Last year, the United Nations committee against torture recommended that Australia “take all necessary measures to end the use of saliva hoods in all circumstances and in all jurisdictions.”
The NT Police watchdog published a review of 30 incidents involving the use of spit hoods on children between 2020 and 2021 and found police had often inappropriately used “extraordinary restraints” and failed to achieve appropriately de-escalate situations.
NT Ombudsman Peter Shoyer recommended the devices not be used in any environment.
Queensland and the Australian Federal Police also banned the use of spit hoods in their jurisdictions, a move that was welcomed by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Human rights commissioner Lorraine Finlay praised the changes due to be introduced in 2023, saying “the use of spit hoods poses significant risks of injury and death, and that their use is contrary to human rights.”
“The evidence clearly indicates that the key risk that a spit hood is designed to address – the transmission of communicable diseases – is very low, making its use a disproportionate response.”
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