The latest riot at Don Dale youth detention centre has been slammed by Opposition Leader Gary Higgins, who says crime is out of control in the Northern Territory.
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Over the weekend, tactical response police were called to the centre after five youth broke away from supervisors and began roaming the grounds with makeshift weapons.
All other youth detained at the centre were kept in their rooms as the centre was locked down.
Mr Higgins has today said the Don Dale incident was another "abject failure" of the Minister for Territory Families, Dale Wakefield.
"This Gunner Labor Government has completely dropped the ball on everything, and the Minister is so focused on generational change, she's missing what's happening right now," Mr Higgins said.
"Crime is out of control, we are the worst performing economy in the nation, and news of more rioting in Don Dale is just not acceptable."
Mr Higgins said the NT Government needed to take action on youth crime and provide more support to those working on the front line.
"Territory Families has hardworking staff with the best intentions but they are not equipped to run detention facilities and have been set up to fail by the Gunner Labor Government," Mr Higgins said.
"The inability to control detainees resulting in riots puts unnecessary strain on our police who are struggling to meet demand on our streets from youth crime."
The weekend's incident is one of a long string of disturbances for the trouble-plagued site.
In April, a number of inmates climbed onto the roof of the centre, prompting calls from the Law Council of Australia to replace the Don Dale youth detention centre with a new facility.
Minister for Territory Families, Dale Wakefield said the young people caught up in the riot will be facing the consequences of their actions.
"There are no excuses for what occurred on Saturday," she said.
"We are fixing the youth justice system with specialist staff, programs and facilities, to get young offenders back on track and to make them better adults, not better criminals."
Hitting back at the opposition she said, "Gary Higgins and the CLP's approach was to slash funding to youth services and diversion programs which failed to reduce youth crime."
The construction of a new youth detention facility and the demolition of Don Dale were the key recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Detention and Protection of Children in the Northern Territory.
The NT government recently picked a site for a new centre at Pinelands but scrapped those plans in January with the government now looking for alternative sites.
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