"I am the Minister for Corrections, not the minister for kicking the shit out of people." Former Corrections Minister John Elferink
"I was shocked and disgusted. A community is judged by the way it treats its children." Chief Minister Adam Giles 
"We will get to the bottom of what happened here. We want to know how this came about, we want to know what lessons can be learnt." Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
"They're being shackled to chairs a la Guantanamo Bay. This is actually happening in Australia in 2016." Barrister John Lawrence
"I think the whole of the NT needs to look at itself. If it was an aboriginal organisation that disregarded so many reports in the way they do, they would have appointed administrators long ago.   Maybe the (Federal) Government needs to think about that as an option." Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda
"If you were seeing non-indigenous children being treated this way, there would be a swift response from the community and the government to the problem." National Justice Project principal solicitor Professor George Newhouse
"If you or I were to treat our children this way we would be prosecuted criminally. These children are in a relationship with the state or the territory that is essentially a parental relationship." Australian Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs
"You could define what I've seen happening in the youth justice facilities as torture" Former NT children's commissioner Dr Howard Bath
"It's unbelievable to think these things are happening in Australia today." National Children's Commissioner Megan Mitchell
"Mate, I don't care how much chemical you use, we gotta get him out." Former Corrections Commissioner Ken Middlebrook
What is Don Dale?
The old Don Dale Youth Detention Centre (where the tear-gassing incident took place) was closed in 2014. Child detainees were moved into the former Berrimah Prison, a maximum security facility previously used to house adult prisoners.
Now also known as Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, the facility was described by Ken Middlebrook in 2011 as being fit only for a bulldozer.
How will a Royal Commission work?
A Royal Commission will confer coercive investigative power to the appointed commissioner. Royal Commissions are established under legislation and provide protection to witnesses.
The parameters of the commission are yet to be determined, but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he wants the inquiry to "expose the cultural problems, the administrative problems that allowed this type of mistreatment to occur." Labor has given its support to the Royal Commission, but wants it to address thewider NT justice system, not just events at Don Dale.