The Northern Territory Government’s decision to expand the use of private prison guards through a contract with global security firm G4S is a shameful and dangerous move that entrenches the violent privatisation of state responsibilities and further dehumanises criminalised communities, particularly Aboriginal people.
‘This is not about safety. This is not about community wellbeing. This is about warehousing, caging and disappearing Aboriginal people, and outsourcing the state’s dirty work to private corporations who profit from human suffering,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
‘The NT Government is handing over public funds to multinational private security contractors like G4S – a company with a long and violent track record, including deaths in custody, abuse, and neglect – to expand their presence in the Territory’s prisons, courts, and watch houses,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
‘Let us be clear: this is not a strategy to reduce harm or address the so-called “crime crisis.” This is an ideologically driven, racist law-and-order agenda designed to escalate surveillance, punishment and incarceration. The Finocchiaro Government has once again shown it cannot think of any solutions to social issues outside the logic of the cage,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
The expansion of G4S’s responsibilities: from prison transfers to 24/7 watch house coverage and hospital bed sits, signals the further creep of privatisation into the core functions of the state. Corrections officers themselves, through the United Workers Union, have raised serious concerns about safety, accountability, and the increasing reliance on a company that is not trained to do the work of skilled, public officers.
‘While the Chief Minister boasts that crime is going down, her own government’s data tells a very different story. Assaults are up. Harm against endangered people is up. Total offences against the person are up. Property damage is up. The public is being misled, and the truth is being buried under political spin,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘Instead of investing in what actually reduces incarceration – housing, health, education, and community-controlled support and social services – the NT Government is pouring funds into private contracts that line the pockets of global corporations at the expense of First Nations lives. This is not a solution. This is structural violence disguised as public policy,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘This Government is not interested in ending the criminalisation of Aboriginal people. It is obsessed with locking them away, removing them from their families, and erasing them from their Country. The expansion of G4S in the NT is not about public safety — it’s about control, punishment, and profit,’ said Tabitha Lean.
The National Network urge people to not stand by as the Government continues to use the Aboriginal communities as collateral for their racist agenda. The public must reject this violent privatisation, demand investment in life-sustaining services, and call for an immediate end to the use of private contractors in the criminal legal system.
We do not need more cages. We need care. We need justice. We need to start decarcerating and divesting from prisons.
For further comment, please contact Debbie Kilroy on 0419 762 474 or Tabitha Lean on 0499 780 226
