The Northern Territory’s Aversion to Youth Diversion
Media Release - June 9th 2026.
The Central Australian Youth Justice (CAYJ) coalition advocates for the rights and needs of young people in the youth justice system in Central Australia. CAYJ is increasingly concerned about the lack of young people being engaged in youth diversion programs across Central Australia. Current policy settings in the Northern Territory (NT) risk entrenching more young people in lifelong cycles of incarceration.
Across Australia, evidence consistently shows that effective youth diversion programs reduce reoffending, improve social outcomes, and strengthen community safety [1] [2]. Culturally responsive diversion programs help to prevent Indigenous young people’s involvement in the justice system [3] [4]. By contrast, evidence suggests that incarceration alone is not effective to reduce offending behaviour and even risks exposing young people to more anti-social behaviour in a concentrated, detention environment [5].
CAYJ are aware that access to diversion programs in the NT is significantly limited compared to others Australian jurisdictions. The NT Government’s Youth Justice Legislation Amendment Act 2025 further reduced the number of offences eligible for youth diversion [6]. The effect is that, since the passing of the Act, we are seeing more young people being remanded in Darwin’s Holtze Youth Detention Centre [7]. Instead of being diverted to re-engage with school, communities and pro-social programs, Central Australian youth are locked up in a prison environment over a thousand kilometers from their homes and country.
Alongside these changes, there has been a shift towards funding for-profit organisations to deliver youth diversion programs. A 2024 review of 31 Australian diversion programs targeted at keeping Indigenous children out of the youth justice system found that best practice programs supported young peoples’ “social and emotional wellbeing through Indigenous-led, place-based, and interdisciplinary collaboration, which resulted in a decline in offending behaviour” [8]. CAYJ questions whether these for-profit operators are capable of providing culturally and community-led support to First Nations young people, who represent over 95% of the youth detention in the NT [9].
CAYJ calls on the Northern Territory Government to do the following:
Review their youth diversion policy to ensure that programs are accessible, evidence-based, and centered on the needs and potential of First Nations young people
Reinstate offence categories eligible for youth diversion that were removed by the 2025 amendment to the Youth Justice Act
Provide more rigorous vetting processes around the allocation of diversion funding and preference Aboriginal Controlled Organisations over for-profit businesses
Co-Chair of CAYJ, Lewis Gould-Fensom states: “NT government policy is stopping young people from accessing youth diversion in the Central Australia. We are sending more of our vulnerable children to a dangerous, prison-style environment in the Top End, instead of connecting them to culturally appropriate, on-country supports here at home.”
Anglicare CEO Craig Kelly, the youth diversion provider in Alice Springs, also comments: “Justice diversion for young people simply makes sense. Given the high incarceration rates of young people in the NT, if there are more effective alternatives available than prison, it’s in everyone’s best interest to use them.”