The National Children’s Commissioner says she is “increasingly concerned” about government accountability for the human rights of children in the Northern Territory, after a video emerged showing the Barkly Regional Council mayor sitting on a child.

Jeffrey McLaughlin has rejected calls for his resignation over the footage, which shows him sitting on a child understood to be between 11 and 12 years old, while another man makes threats against the boy.

Cr McLaughlin alleges the child broke into his Tennant Creek home in late August, which prompted him to carry out what he described as a “citizen’s arrest”.

The footage emerged on Friday night and police are investigating.

Cr McLaughlin has rejected calls for his resignation over the matter and today decided to take indefinite leave.

National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds said although she recognised communities were frustrated with crime, she believed a “pattern” was emerging in the NT.

She referenced a recent video published by NT Police to its official Facebook page, which depicts police chasing two Indigenous teenagers through burnt bushland, set to music. 

“I did write to the [Police] Minister asking for [the NT Police] video to be removed because what I saw, which was police hunting down children using dogs in a quite dramatic — almost like a television program — sort of video.

“I felt that that had the potential to incite violence against children, incite vigilantism essentially.”

Ms Hollonds said while she did not know the full circumstances of the video featuring Cr McLaughlin in Tennant Creek, she said it was “horrendous to watch”.

Cr McLaughlin’s actions have also been criticised by both national and local bodies including acting NT children’s commissioner Nicole Hucks, the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) and the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children, known as SNAICC.

NT chief minister hits back at ‘east coast armchair critics’

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said although she found the video of the Tennant Creek mayor “confronting”, she understood community frustrations about “anti-social behaviour”.

She also rejected Ms Hollonds’s concerns about government accountability for children’s human rights.

“Are we perfect? No, but we’ve done an awful lot,” Ms Fyles said.

“What we need is more investment. We need that needs-based funding in family and domestic violence. We need that needs-based funding in health care in the Northern Territory because of our large geographical area, our high Indigenous population.

“So the east-coasters want to sit and be armchair critics — perhaps they can advocate for us around what we really need because we understand the issues and we understand what it’ll take to tackle them.”

Tennant Creek locals concerned

Cr McLaughlin’s actions have also been criticised by some Tennant Creek residents, such as traditional owner John Fitz Jakamarra, who said he was “pretty shocked” by the footage.

“There’s sort of [one] guy standing over him and, you know, threatening to kill him and then we’ve got [Cr McLaughlin] sitting on top of him – so it just doesn’t look right,” he said.

“There could have been another way of holding that kid, you know.”