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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3461 ..
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Mr Speaker, Members will be aware that a major review of the Children's Services Act is in train with a public discussion paper released on 8 August 1997. Extensive community consultation will be undertaken as part of the review. In fact, a full six months has been set aside for that consultation.
However, a number of incidents have occurred concerning detainees at Quamby, which necessitate amendments prior to the completion of this review process. These amendments relate to the transfer of young offenders to other institutions under the Children's Services Act 1986 and the sentencing of offenders under the Crimes Act 1900.
Transfer Provisions
I would like to present, Mr Speaker, an outline of these amendments and an explanation of the issues for the information of Members.
Amending the Children's Services Act would enable the Director of Family Services to approve the transfer of a person from one institution to another, including to an interstate institution. Similar legislative provisions, dating from December 1996, enable the Administrator of the Belconnen Remand Centre to transfer an adult detainee to a NSW adult institution.
Members should note that the transfer process has previously been achieved by court order, and that the option of effecting transfers by court-ordered variation to existing orders will remain open.
The proposed amendment will have a number of benefits. It will allow detainees and persons responsible for them to apply for a transfer to be closer to their families, thus increasing their chances of rehabilitation. It will allow the very small number of detainees with particular medical, safety, health or welfare needs to have access to the wider range of programs available in the NSW juvenile justice system.
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