Northern Territory Prevention Alliance

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:

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

Who is involved with the alliance?

Secretariat functions (undertaken by NAPCAN):

Calendar invitations/date claimers
Drafting meeting agenda
Minutes/actions for meetings
Contact point for correspondence and records

Chair functions (undertaken by Megan Mitchell AM):

Chair the meetings to ensure the agenda is managed
Manage contributions to ensure all members have opportunity to contribute

Current NTPA members (as at 2024) include:

National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA)
NT Child Abuse Taskforce / Northern Territory Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team (NTJACET)
NT Council of Social Services (NTCOSS)
NT Mental Health Coalition
NT Police, Fire & Emergency (PFES) Crime, Intelligence and Capability
NT Principals’ Association
NT Primary Health Network (PHN)
NT Shelter
Office of the Children’s Commissioner, Northern Territory
Playgroup NT
Relationships Australia NT
SNAICC
Sport Integrity NT
Yourtown

Guiding Documents

The Alliance endorses the key prevention and early intervention recommendations from the following documents:

Meeting Notes

July 2024 Meeting – Online Safety for Children and Young People, and Victoria’s Youth Crime Prevention & Early Intervention Project

Communique
yourtown submission to Statutory Review of the Online Safety Act 2021 Issues Paper
Esafety Commissioner – Safety by Design
Australian Federal Police – Think U Know
Presentation by Angus Woodward on Victoria’s Youth Crime Prevention & Early Intervention Project (YCPEIP)
Crikey article – Keeping young people out of prison and reducing the crime rate are win-wins for incarcerated youth and for the community.

February 2024 Meeting – Community-led research with Darwin-region young people in the justice system, and NT Press Club feedback on NT Media Guide

Communique

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

NTPA-Auspiced Resources

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.

A Media Guide, designed to support people working in the media to create a more balanced and constructive story about children and young people. It is currently under review by members of the NTPA and other key stakeholders before being finalised.
A series of three Message Guides, addressing key topics of interest to the NTPA. The guides are designed for people working with children and young people to support us in our own communication (and in responding to media requests). They can also be useful for the media.

Click on the images below to download copies.