Federal Labor MP and Special Envoy for Remote Communities Marion Scrymgour has opened up about her son’s battle with drug addiction after he landed in court earlier this week.

Her 43-year-old son Richard was remanded in custody and appeared at Darwin Local Court on Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to shoplifting and driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle.

Scrymgour said she made no excuses for him but offered a partial explanation for his current and previous string of offences.

She said her son was once a “proud and dependable worker” with many children and grandchildren, but now “struggles with and succumbs to” his addiction to methamphetamine.

“There may be no end to this journey – I don’t at the moment see any light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.

Scrymgour shared that she was struggling to navigate his addiction.

“So where to from here? Not just for me but for all the families trying to make sense of and navigate a pathway through the methamphetamine scourge?” she said.

“The answer is that I don’t know.

“I certainly don’t claim to have any special insight or capacity to fix things just because I am an elected member of parliament.

“If anything, at a family level, that makes it harder because I am away so much and can’t always follow through on an intervention or be consistently present to prevent backsliding.”

The 64-year-old politician concluded her candid statement with a promise to help other families in similar situations.

“I have always spoken out for and in support of victims of crime, and I will continue to do so,” she said.

“I believe in law and order and protecting the vulnerable.

“But I also need to do more, I need to do better, to assist those family members who are up for it throughout the Territory, especially older mothers like me, to salvage addiction-scarred human beings who, without help, will end up hurting themselves and others.”

Scrymgour was first elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in 2001 before joining Labor and being elected as the Federal MP for Lingiari in 2022.

She has previously served as the deputy chief minister and held the child protection and natural resources, education and arts portfolios.