Page 1337 - Week 04 - Thursday, 10 April 2008
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Education, Training and Young People—Standing Committee—Report 6—Restorative Justice Principles in Youth Settings—Final report, dated 8 April 2008, together with a copy of the extracts of the relevant minutes of proceedings.
I move:
That the report be noted.
I am pleased to be tabling the final report by the Standing Committee on Education, Training and Young People on the inquiry into restorative justice principles in youth settings. Restorative justice is a way of bringing together all those involved in a conflict or crime in order to give victims a voice, repair harm and restore community.
On 22 February 2005 the committee determined that it would conduct this inquiry, and submissions were invited from a very wide range of interested groups of people. An interim report was tabled in this Assembly on 8 June 2006 detailing the progress and the findings of the inquiry to that date. The select committee on estimates tabled its report on the appropriation bill 2006-07 on 15 August 2006 and recommended that the Standing Committee on Education, Training and Young People should review the adequacy of strategies and resources provided to deal with bullying in the ACT school system. On 16 November 2006 I advised the Assembly that the scope of the inquiry would be expanded to consider the management of bullying, harassment and violence in ACT schools. The committee then advertised and sought further input from relevant agencies and organisations to ensure that the views of the community on these matters could be heard.
Consequently this inquiry has taken a considerable period of time. However, I believe that this Assembly will find that the report and its recommendations reflect the depth and breadth of that inquiry and the consultation process that the committee undertook. No small thanks need to go to successive secretaries of the committee: Siobhan Leyne, Elizabeth Camp and Derek Abbott. And, of course, my grateful thanks to the current secretary, Dr Sandra Lilburn. I also thank my fellow committee members, past member Mrs Dunne and current members Mr Gentleman and Mr Pratt. Mr Pratt was appointed towards the end of the conduct of this inquiry; I acknowledge his willingness to become familiar with the vast amount of evidence that came before the committee prior to his appointment to it.
The committee found that the ACT is internationally recognised for its restorative justice work and recommended that the ACT government capitalise on that success. Some 47 schools across all ACT school systems—that is, public, independent and Catholic—use restorative practice, and the number is growing. The ACT has a successful Restorative Justice Unit which has proven that the practice of restorative justice can reduce reoffending.
As I said, the committee recommends that the ACT build on its success in both these areas—that is, in education settings and in relation to the criminal justice area—for instance, through the resourcing of consistent application in restorative practice in schools, enabling training and support for teachers and allied staff and school
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