Inspectors to help prevent torture and other cruel and degrading treatment in detention centres will get unfettered access to facilities across the Northern Territory.
The NT parliament has passed legislation that provides for a formal oversight agency known as the National Preventative Mechanism and the appointment of inspectors to examine and monitor places of detention.
It is expected the NT ombudsman will monitor police watch houses, correctional facilities and court watch houses, the children's commissioner will be responsible for all places where children are detained and community visitors will be responsible for hospitals, mental health, disability, and aged care facilities.
Those agencies will have the power to investigate allegations of torture or other inappropriate treatment and will not need to notify centres before their arrival.
Attorney-General Chansey Paech said the legislation would improve the treatment of people in detention across the region.
The new NT laws follow Australia becoming a signatory to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
While the federal government has agreed to the implementation of similar legislation across the country, each jurisdiction is responsible for establishing its own inspection regime.
