The Northern Territory Prevention Alliance (NTPA) was formed in 2019, and has since been remodelled to maximise opportunities for Territory-wide action. It is made up of executive-level representatives from key agencies with responsibilities across the Northern Territory for the provision of primary prevention, safety and wellbeing services to communities, families, children and young people. The Alliance provides a means of engaging government, corporate and non-government sectors in promoting the value of wellbeing and the prevention of child abuse and neglect in a consistent and effective way to the broader community.

Together, we aim to build on strengths, find and fill gaps and choose the right people for the right tasks – through focusing on the following five anchors.

Core focus areas

The following themes have been identified as priorities:

1. Adopting a true primary prevention focus – defining what it looks like
2. Avoiding duplication of services/initiatives – being mindful not to replicate through creating a combined strategy by mapping collective strengths
3. Moving beyond safety – looking further towards overall wellbeing for children, families and communities
4. Valuing and amplifying the voices of children and young people
5. Developing and promoting the benefits of a common ‘prevention’ language
6. Community campaigns – getting public messaging/awareness right
7. Integrating with established community approaches – formal and informal approaches
8. Broadening the scope of work – importance of corporate engagement
9. Focus on effective community communication and engagement strategies – real stories help real engagement
10. Valuing diversity and inclusivity – Importance of culturally inclusive processes
11. Being realistic about scale and cost
12. Challenging each other and building together
13. Child Rights focus – children’s rights always the backbone to all approaches
14. Where does the Alliance have value across the continuum?
15. Clarity of overall purpose – all children are safe, thriving, valued and with opportunities.

November 2023 Meeting – Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS), and Menzies Centre for Child Development and Education research and linked data sets

• Communique
• Presentation by Prof Daryl Higgins on Australian Child Maltreatment Study
• Website for Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS)
• Presentation by Prof Steven Guthridge on Menzies Centre for Child Development and Education research and linked data sets
• Website for Menzies School of Health Research – Centre for Child Development and Education

June 2023 Meeting – Issues of concern to young people in the Mparntwe/Alice Springs region, including effects of media reporting

• Communique
• Justice Reform Initiative – ‘Alternatives to Incarceration in the Northern Territory’ – Full Report and Highlights Paper
• Yourtown’s My Circle – a free, private, safe and confidential social platform for 12-25-year-olds across Australia, supported by Kids Helpline counsellors

February 2023 Meeting – Social Order Response in Alice Springs and Darwin Northern Suburbs, and presentation by Children’s Ground

• Communique

September 2022 Meeting 

• Meeting Notes

May 2022

• Meeting Notes

February 2022

• Meeting Notes

October 2021

• Meeting Notes

May 2021

• Meeting Notes

The NTPA believes that language is important. In particular, community attitudes are impacted by the words and phrases we use, the way we ‘frame’ issues, and how children and young people are portrayed in the media.

This has resulted in the creation of the following guides. The Media Guide is designed to support people working in the media to create a more balanced and constructive story about young people. The Message Guides go into more detail about key topics of interest to the NTPA; they will also be useful for the media, but are particularly designed for people working with children and young people to support us in our own communication (and in responding to media requests).

The guides are currently being reviewed by members of the NTPA and other key stakeholders before finalisation.

Click on the images below to download copies.