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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (16 February) . . Page.. 163 ..

MR HARGREAVES (continuing):

I raise the issue of the provision of youth centre services in Canberra and I wish to focus on two aspects of the services. Those are the services which, by the nature of them and the skills of the service providers, are contributory to preventing youth suicide attempts and the prevention of the development of criminality in young people. It is true, Mr Speaker, that often kids coming from dysfunctional homes are often those most at risk. It can also be said that kids from functional families need the services of youth centres as recreational outlets. This is most reasonable. What is not often acknowledged is the value of having kids who are not in any sense dysfunctional around those who suffer some sort of dysfunction.

I was reading a publication from the national anti-crime strategy called "Pathways to Prevention". No doubt members have received a copy of that excellent publication. This valuable publication listed the risk factors associated with antisocial and criminal behaviour. It was striking that many of these same factors apply to kids considering hurting themselves. It is, of course, a range and combination of these factors which contribute to the incidence of suicide attempt and criminality, but many of these can be addressed by skilled workers and peer groups in our youth centres, and, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, they are being addressed. These factors include disability, difficult temperament, insecure attachment, poor problem-solving, beliefs about aggression, poor social skills, low self-esteem, alienation and impulsivity. This is not an exhaustive list, but merely some of the attributes of young people which can contribute to a risk situation.

To these factors are added family factors, such as substance abuse, criminality and antisocial models in parents, family violence and disharmony, marital discord, long-term unemployment, negative social interaction and isolation, and parenting styles involving poor supervision, discipline styles, child rejection, abuse, lack of warmth and affection and neglect. When we add some or all of these factors to the events which can shatter kids' lives and to community and cultural factors, we can see the enormity of this problem.

Frankly, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, parents of socially functional families are the lucky ones. Whatever they are doing is working, and in the main this is the case. But how do we really help those who are in socially dysfunctional families? How do we help the kids? How do we help the parents?

Another interesting facet of this dysfunctionality can be seen in the growth of numbers of persons incarcerated for serious crimes. I suggest that there could be a direct correlation between increased numbers of prisoners and the lack of youth centre services. Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, in the context of finding out what I can about the provision of corrective services in other jurisdictions, I spoke to a former Director-General of Corrective Services in Queensland. One of the very interesting things the former Director-General told me was that at one stage during his tenure he became alarmed at the unseasonably large influx of prisoners into the system. On analysing the cases, he discovered that the increase could be tracked back to a time when the government of the day had reduced the money available for youth support services. His view was that criminals do not just appear. People do not become criminals at age 18 when they can be sent to prison for offences. Their propensity towards crime was developed at an early age and if the environment was ripe criminality went on the rise.

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