Formed in 1986, for nearly 40 years CLANT has been an effective and powerful voice for the improvement of the criminal justice system of the Northern Territory of Australia, representing both defence lawyers and prosecutors, and practitioners from the public sector, private profession, and the independent bar.

CLANT is strongly committed to addressing the challenges facing the criminal justice system in the Northern Territory. Our objects and purposes include:

• To promote and advance the administration of the criminal justice and development and improvement of criminal law in the Northern Territory;

• To actively contribute in public debates on issues relating to the criminal justice system; 

• To promote and encourage the protection of human rights and compliance with international human rights principles in the Northern Territory; 

• To promote the professional discourse, development, and social interaction among the profession. 

To advance those objects and purposes, CLANT hosts a biennial criminal law conference, bringing together members of the Australian criminal law profession, members of the judiciary, academics and scholars to discuss contemporary issues facing the criminal justice system in the Northern Territory and Australia.

THE CLANT CONFERENCE 

First held in 1987, The "Bali conference", as it is known, has heard from a wide range of pre-eminent keynote speakers, including the Honourable Justice Michael Kirby AC, Julian Burnside AO KC, Robert Richter KC and, most recently, Phillip Boulten SC. The 2024 conference will be the first to be held in Bali since 2019, following an enforced hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year's theme, Smart on Crime invites speakers to ventilate new, evidence-based, "smart" approaches to issues facing the criminal justice system – be they systemic "big picture" issues, or practical issues relating to the "nuts and bolts" of criminal practice.