Mandatory Sentencing, Remand and “Actual Imprisonment” in the Northern Territory

Abstract

In October 2024, the Country Liberal Party (CLP) in the Northern Territory (NT), Australia expanded the NT’s mandatory sentencing regime in respect of assaults on frontline workers. It also expanded mandatory sentencing for contraventions of Domestic Violence Orders. The expansion of mandatory sentencing is just one aspect of the CLP’s “tough on crime” reforms to the NT criminal justice system, whose effect will likely be to entrench the vicious circle of trauma, poverty and criminalisation in Indigenous communities. There is a scholarly and law reform consensus against mandatory sentencing, which has received uptake in the form of community advocacy against the CLP’s reforms. In this article, I argue for the need to supplement this advocacy with a focus on the negative impacts of remand and of restrictions on bail. The true driver of mass incarceration in the NT is not mandatory sentencing, but the use of restrictions on bail as a tool of community safety. I examine the impact of the CLP Government’s October 2024 and April 2025 bail reforms. Nearly half of the NT prison population is on remand, with remand conditions tending to be worse than the conditions faced by sentenced prisoners. Calling for urgent reform where remand and bail are concerned should be a priority for law reformers and community advocates alike.