Page 3674 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 21 November 2006
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consideration of how the new adult sentencing and correction laws, which are being developed within what the government says is its human rights framework, might apply to children and young people. I understand that is to be undertaken in consultation with the community.
I understand that currently 27 standing orders that have been based on informal work practices over many years need to be succinctly defined under law to uphold a higher standard of care and protection of young people in detention. I am also advised that some of those standing orders have been suppressed from public viewing due to security issues. I am also advised that by February next year those standing orders will be refined and reduced to 13, all of which for transparency’s sake will then be accessible for public viewing.
We will watch with interest what the government is going to do in this crucially important area. It is important, of course, that the rights of young people, especially those in custody, are balanced against the rights of the community. I appreciate the dilemma the government has got itself into with its Human Rights Act in respect of things like Quamby. I think it is going to get itself into more and more dilemmas. It is a balancing act. The opposition has supported many improvements made at Quamby. We supported the announcement by the minister of a very major project to build a new youth detention centre. I think at the time we mentioned that we would prefer it to be not co-located with or part of an ACT prison. The government has indicated it is building it out in the Mitchell area and that would appear to be something we supported at the time.
It is crucially important that all these matters are balanced properly. A young person invariably does not go to Quamby unless they have got some real problems, unless they have committed some quite serious, or indeed multiple, offences and there is no other realistic option. It is important to continue to review such things as the standing orders. It is important to ensure that young people have the opportunity to be rehabilitated rather than go down the road of a life of crime. It is crucially important to have programs in place. Since 1995 governments of all persuasion have been attempting to do that at the youth detention centre. This is something that just has to continue because, quite clearly, if young people leave Quamby better than when they entered they will have a real chance of actually getting along in the world and not reverting to a life of crime which will lead to periods of incarceration in an adult prison. So I think it is very important to ensure that we get this right.
The bill that is now before us is concerned with only a relatively small portion of the Children and Young People Act. The act deals with a wide range of other areas, including the ability of courts to impose penalties on young people and questions in relation to such things as youth detention. Some significant issues have arisen over the last few years, especially issues in relation to the 2004 recommendations of the Vardon-Murray report. It is a particularly difficult area of government and it can be a particularly costly area of government. Each year hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money is spent on some young people who need extensive care. There are some huge issues in relation to the Children and Young People Act and that is why, despite the fact that a lot of work went into the first piece of legislation, it was envisaged that within three years there would be an operational review. Although it has taken a bit after three years, I am pleased to see that is happening. The opposition and I look forward to seeing further developments in this area.
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