Page 4101 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 22 October 1991
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stopping child abuse, we would all be behind it; we would have done it years ago. But the experts have differing views. It is a difficult question. We have referred it to the Community Law Reform Committee to air those views throughout the Canberra community, and I think that is a sensible approach.
On the issue of detention - of locking up children who default on fines - it is something that the Government just cannot support. As Mr Collaery said, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which this Assembly has supported, says that detention shall be used as a measure of last resort. When Mr Stefaniak raised this, I had cause to look at the position in all other States. The position in New South Wales is that, yes, detention can occur when all other options have been exhausted - when you have been through community service orders; when you have been back before the court repeatedly. At the end of the day, there can be detention; but there are very special conditions, with appropriate notices and accommodation.
The reason for those very special conditions, of course, is the tragedy in the New South Wales system of young Jamie Partlic, who was, in fact, 18. So, he was not a juvenile in the eyes of the law; he was just an adult. He was a fine defaulter who was sent to Long Bay, he was tragically bashed by a hardened criminal, and now he will never be a fully functioning adult. He is severely disabled through massive head wounds.
In Victoria, only weekend detention is available. In Western Australia, again, detention is available only after all other options have been exhausted. In Queensland, there is no provision for locking up young offenders. In Tasmania, there is no provision to lock up young offenders for fine default, as is the case in Queensland. In the Northern Territory - a jurisdiction which might be seen to be a bit rednecked, being run by the Country-Liberal Party - there is no provision to lock up young offenders for fine default; there are only community service options. And, in South Australia, again, there is locking up only after all other options have been exhausted, including community service orders.
The position in the ACT, essentially, is, again, that it is a last option at the moment. A person who has been in default on fines will go back before the magistrate. There are a range of options, including, potentially, community service orders; and, at the end of the day, detention is there as a last option. That is consistent with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which says that it shall be used only as a measure of last resort. What Mr Stefaniak is proposing to do is to go against the tenor of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and against the tenor of practice throughout the rest of Australia, by having locking up as a first option.
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