Arrernte man Andrew Lockyer works with children incarcerated in the notorious Don Dale detention centre in the Northern Territory.

Fears are high at the prospect of spit hoods being reintroduced in the territory after the election on the weekend.

"Our young people cringe at the idea of being strapped to a chair and having a spit hood put on. We've seen the photos … and it's horrific. I don't think any young person ever wants to be in that position," he said.

The image of a topless teenage boy restrained in a chair with a bag over his head in 2016 sparked a royal commission. It recommended the removal of spit hoods and raising the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years old.

"If we're putting laws in place to traumatise our young people, well then, we're setting up our community to fail," Mr Lockyer said.

First Nations leaders and experts across Australia have slammed the bucket of policies – which include reintroducing the use of spit hoods and making 10-year-old children criminally liable.

The Northern Territory Children's Commissioner Shahleena Musk says she's sought a meeting to discuss the new government's election commitments, in particular impacts on children and young people.

She said in a statement to the ABC's Indigenous Affairs Team, "the Office of the Children's Commissioner supports calls from some Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to approach youth justice from an evidence-based, prevention and child-health perspective."

Bundjalung Widubul-Wiabul woman Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, the ACT Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, said Aboriginal people will be targeted under the changes.

"The fact that there is even consideration and discussions of holding children as young as 10 years-old who still have their baby teeth, who are still literally children, held to this idea of criminal responsibility actually speaks to the negligence of the leadership of that territory."

She described the NT's history of "punitive" policies as "a war on Aboriginal children and people".

"There is a dedicated commitment and regime to ensure that Aboriginal children, young people, continue to be subject to surveillance instead of support," Ms Turnbull-Roberts said.

Concerns closing the gap targets will worsen

Commissioner Turnbull-Roberts said it was clear the NT Government would not meet its Closing the Gap targets.

"It's absolutely walking away from the Closing the Gap commitments, and it's walking away from actually ensuring that communities can thrive," she told the ABC's Indigenous Affairs Team.

Under the national agreement on Closing the Gap, governments have committed to reducing the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in detention by at least 30 per cent over the next seven years.

For adults, the target is to reduce First Nations incarceration by at least 15 per cent by 2031.

In the NT, these statistics are getting worse, not better.

The NT's new Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro stood firmly behind the law reforms and said she planned to lower the age of criminality from 12 back down to 10.

"We have been very clear for a number of years that reducing the criminal age of responsibly to 10 was a big part of our plan and we will deliver on that in week one of parliament as we committed, and as Territorians voted us to do."

The federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, said all governments must do more to accelerate progress on Closing the Gap and "urged all parties to take these commitments seriously".

National Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds said, "in terms of the Closing the Gap commitments, I can't see how these policies will assist".

This comes off the back of her report last week to reform the nation's justice systems, that recommended the age of criminal responsibility be raised to 14 across the country.

Commissioner Hollonds said the NT's plans to clamp down on youth offending was "not based on evidence about what will help to reduce offending by children."

Concerns more vulnerable kids will be incarcerated

The impact of these changes on children is concerning Aboriginal-controlled Darwin health service Danila Dilba.

"What we know from kids that are in detention is that a large proportion of them have neurodevelopmental or disability, mental disability such as ADHD, FASD or autism," said CEO Rob McPhee.

"And so we're just exposing kids with already complex mental health issues to a really scary environment that's not going to help them in any way at all.

"We're dealing with what is largely a social or health issue with punishment."

The Country Liberal Party (CLP) won in a landslide election on Saturday, with a suite of amendments to legislation and policies, which would include denying bail for alleged serious violent and repeat offenders, mandatory minimum sentences for assaulting frontline workers, criminalising public drunkenness, and building two new women's prisons.

In Larrakia Country, Arrernte man Andrew Lockyer works as a case manager and mentor for Brother2Another – a grassroots Aboriginal-run and owned organisation that provides support to boys in youth detention.

Mr Lockyer said a number of these policies, such as mandatory sentencing, had been "tried and tested", but ultimately failed.

"What we've seen back then was young people continuously stuck in the system without an opportunity to get out of it," he said.

"We could potentially end up with first time offenders in detention, which could then start a trajectory for life.

"Nobody wants violence in the community, but people need opportunities to be able to have a crack at life and try to better themselves in life, rather than just being locked up."

In the lead-up to the election, the CLP promised mandatory youth diversion programs, and new youth boot camps in Darwin and Alice Springs.

Mr Lockyer questioned the effectiveness of the policies and urged the CLP to consult more widely with grassroots Aboriginal service providers to understand the issues impacting children. 

"We try to help the young people fix the environment they're in by working with their communities and their families," he said

"Putting a kid out in the bush marching them through the country in a boot camp-style situation is not going to help our community."

Arrernte man Jason Lord founded a community boxing academy that works with young people in Central Australia.

"I'm quite shocked," he said of the policies, adding he feared they would create a "spiral effect" where more children would "fall into the criminal justice system at a younger age".

He said diversionary programs should be led by community.

"We're here for the long haul. You got to get behind programs that are here to stay, that are permanently on the ground."

 

Jason Lord says the gym is a positive space for young people. (ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)

The CLP also plans to give police powers to fine, charge and arrest people for public drinking in non-exempt areas, with mandatory rehabilitation.

But Yamatji and Nyamal man Rob McPhee described this as a rehashed policy that wouldn't lead to improved health outcomes.

"The individual might have access to secure living conditions while they're in rehab, but there's no support being provided at the end, they're often going straight back into the environment that they've come from," he said.

"I think the work that's been done by the new government needs to be based on evidence. We can't just be reacting to community sentiment."

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International warned some of the policies may breach human rights.

"We strongly condemn the CLP's dangerous decision to lower the age of criminal responsibility and reintroduce the use of spit hoods – a cruel practice that Amnesty International has labelled as torture," said Amnesty's Indigenous rights campaigner and Gomeroi woman Kacey Teerman.

Amnesty called on the new government to reverse its decision on lowering the age of criminal responsibility, and to "commit to adhering to human rights law in its youth justice policies".