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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 9 Hansard (23 August) . . Page.. 3235 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

all to handle. There will always be appropriate suggestions for how we can improve that and what we should be doing.

It was interesting to read through the recommendations that attempt to identify what the next challenges are for us, and I thank members of the committee for focusing on those challenges. We were aware of most of them, but this puts them succinctly and clearly, which helps us to prioritise. It also means that, leading up to a new government, there will be an opportunity for people to get a sense of a collaborative approach within the Assembly for a better outcome for young people in Quamby. That is clearly what the direction is.

When Mr Hargreaves launched Labor's policy, a driving force behind that seemed to be the headline "Quamby should be removed from Corrective Services". It is interesting, therefore, that he did not make sure that Mr Berry also understood that that would be Labor Party policy. But Mr Berry stood back, looked at it, along with the rest of the committee, and, interestingly, did not recommend that at all. On the contrary, consistent with the coroner, paragraph 3.11 on page 31 reads:

The evidence received during this inquiry does not support a change in the administrative arrangements for Youth Justice Services so long as there is a clear separation of youth justice from adult corrections and resource levels are maintained in real terms.

They are indeed important challenges. The recommendations are a little more open than that but, when you look at the thinking that comes through here, it seems to be the same thinking as what the coroner brought down originally, which was the motivation for the arrangement as it currently is.

Now is a good opportunity for Labor to look at this report very carefully and see if they are prepared to modify their stance and the policy they have put forward. I can see that the recommendation is open, but the thinking in this particular section warrants reconsideration. It was the one that happened to get the attention, but it is probably only a small part of the policy that Mr Hargreaves released with regard to young people in the corrections system.

I thank the members for being thoughtful and putting in the effort. I know that the report will be taken seriously by the people in Youth Justice Services and that they will continue to work as hard as they can to improve the way they do things. There are some recommendations about facilities as well. Those will come into the new capital works arrangements as well as the ones that are already under way. Those recommendations will be very helpful.

MR HARGREAVES (10.51): I, too, welcome this report. I think it is an excellent report and that it states the way Quamby is at the moment. The tragic events of 1996 gave us all a wake-up call. It was tragic that that needed to be the case.

Of course, over the last five years the mindset has changed. The people responsible for the management of it, indeed, all the people involved in it, have had a mindset change and are now talking about preventive and educational programs and approaching the

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