Page 2475 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 29 June 2005

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(d) the ongoing breach of the Human Rights Act 2004 in relation to the treatment of inmates at Quamby; and

(2) calls on the Minister to table in the Assembly all relevant documents in relation to the establishment of the working group within the current sitting of the Assembly.

In my inaugural speech to the Assembly in December of last year I drew attention to my desire to serve the needs of the very vulnerable in our society. My shadow portfolio responsibility for young people provides me with the opportunity to deliver on that desire and to speak up for those young people vulnerable to the inaction of government whose rights under various bits of legislation may not be met and who may not have the access to representation in this place that other sections of society are able to have.

There can be little argument that the detainees of the Quamby Youth Detention Centre fall into this category. Report 7 of 2004 of the Standing Committee on Community Services and Social Equity stated, after being provided with information on detainees:

The lives of many of these young people are characterised by a history of abuse, drug and/or alcohol addiction, poverty, family breakdown, homelessness, discrimination and alienation.

In August 2004, after a long period of inquiry and a number of submissions by government, non-government service providers and other stakeholders in the Quamby Youth Detention Centre, the Standing Committee on Community Services and Social Equity of the Fifth Assembly delivered 10 recommendations on the centre and the way in which it catered for those young people detained there. The committee, comprising members of the government, the opposition and the crossbench, was unanimous in its recommendations

One area of concern that the committee wanted addressed related to undertaking a review of the programs offered to young people in Quamby in relation to their adequacy and appropriateness. In relation to the programs, the committee report indicated that during 2003 the government released research on how to reduce young people’s involvement in crime and went on to say that the research “suggests that the current range and emphasis of programs in Quamby may not be the most effective”.

The committee identified that there were gaps in relation to the general living and social skills programs, that social competence training was not offered to all detainees and that greater emphasis should be placed on therapeutic programs. Hence, there was a recommendation that a working group be formed to examine the adequacy and appropriateness of the programs currently available at Quamby, having specific regard for the need to have social competence training for all detainees, prerelease life skills programs and increased opportunities for therapeutic interventions. This was in August 2004. The government agreed in February 2005 to a number of the recommendations.

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