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New laws that will allow the Northern Territory's police commissioner to declare snap curfews have passed the NT Parliament.
The changes come after violence in the outback town of Alice Springs led to a three-week "circuit-breaker" curfew in March.
Under that declaration, children under 18 were barred from being out alone in the CBD at night.
The NT government says the measure curbed youth crime, and last week introduced a new bill to make curfews easier to declare in future.
This was brought forward "on urgency" ahead of the NT election in August — meaning it was debated and eventually passed far quicker than most bills — and was supported by both major parties.
Here's what you need to know about the new laws.
What do the changes do?
The new legislation changes the NT's Police Administration Act to give the police commissioner the power to declare snap, three-day curfews over areas of the NT in cases of "public disorder".
Under the laws, the police minister cannot override the police commissioner.
But any curfew can only be extended for a further seven days, and only if the police minister approves.
A curfew also temporarily suspends the NT Anti-Discrimination Act, allowing the police commissioner to impose curfews on people of certain ages.
But curfews cannot be made over Aboriginal land, which covers a significant portion of the NT.
Why the changes?
The Northern Territory's Labor government abandoned its long-held opposition to curfews in March following nationwide attention on unrest in Alice Springs, with Chief Minister Eva Lawler saying "the community has had enough".
The town has experienced a series of crime spikes in the past few years, but many local leaders say it is a symptom of deeper social issues and requires short and long-term work to fix.
Police Minister Brent Potter says the changes will make the process of declaring future curfews easier.
It comes after concerns from legal agencies and the NT's police union that the legislation used to declare the Alice Springs curfew, the Emergency Management Act, was not appropriate and could make the curfew unlawful.
No arrests were made during the curfew, so the declaration was never able to be challenged in court.
Does it give the police commissioner too much power?
Mr Potter says the laws will only be used in extreme circumstances, but that they're an extra tool police can consider in major situations.
But there has been criticism that the laws go too far.
North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency principal legal officer Jared Sharp says the laws are "an unjustifiable overreach".
"It is a massive intrusion into all of our civil liberties," he says.
"Existing police powers can quite adequately deal with the types of situation that this is supposedly designed to address."
Within parliament, two independent politicians — Yingiya Mark Guyula, an Indigenous representative for Arnhem Land, and Mark Turner, a former police officer — have both expressed concerns about the changes.
"The lack of safeguards and broad interpretation allowed for within the Bill push us further in the direction of a police state," Mr Guyula says.
Are there any similar laws like this in Australia?
Mr Potter says the NT's laws are modelled on New South Wales legislation brought in following the 2005 Cronulla riots.
Those laws were initially expected to expire in 2007, but were extended indefinitely following a review by the NSW Ombudsman.
They give police the power to close public places, stop and search people and cars, seize mobile phones for up to seven days, shutter licensed premises and declare alcohol-free zones in instances of "public disorder".
Mr Potter says the NT's laws allow only the police commissioner to make declarations, which is stricter than NSW's laws.
But the Northern Territory's changes do not allow curfews to be challenged in the Supreme Court, which is accommodated for in New South Wales.