Page 3772 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
resourcing for teacher release time so as to not disadvantage schools that encourage teachers to access this training.
Opportunities also exist within the ACT to develop the training programs provided within our tertiary education institutions. In doing so, we have the ability to continue to change and enhance the culture from one of a traditional punitive framework to one that empowers and prepares teachers to respond in a more socially constructive way.
I have had a bit of history with the whole thing around restorative justice. In fact, some years ago, there was an ACT Assembly inquiry in to restorative justice. As many people know, I was previously a director of the Youth Coalition of the ACT. We were very pleased to research and lodge a submission with that inquiry supporting restorative justice and wanting to see it rolled out through many systems such as the justice and school systems. I believe that Ms Porter may well have sat on that inquiry.
After the Youth Coalition lodged our submission, we went on to organise a forum, and that forum brought in many different experts and also practitioners. It was looking at restorative justice in youth justice settings, also in education settings, in regards to care and protection and so forth. There was a very active involvement from schools, particularly from those schools who had already implemented and put it in place and who were happy to go out and promote it to other schools.
From there we went on to develop a very good working relationship with the restorative justice unit, and John Hinchey was heading up that unit. They were very much trying to get out and promote restorative justice, particularly to young people. They came to the Youth Coalition and asked for our assistance. They had an idea of a brochure, but they knew that the brochure was not really going to hit the mark with these young people. So they asked us if we could get together a group of young people to work with them on some sort of product that would be able to go out and would be accessible to other young people and would really promote the positive benefits of restorative justice.
What came out of that exercise was that a comic book was developed, Doing RJ. The young people had input into the story line; they got in an artist; it was a well-produced comic book and many thousands of copies were printed and then distributed through schools and through youth services across the ACT. I am very pleased to say that through the annual youth awards for excellence that are put out by the Youth Coalition, that comic and the restorative justice unit went on to receive a YOGI in the recognition of the wonderful work that they have done in producing the comic book, working with young people and promoting the benefits of restorative justice.
In conclusion, the ACT Greens support the need to recognise restorative justice as a viable alternative to traditional responses to various forms of destructive behaviour in ACT schools. We would like to see the ACT government work towards expanding the opportunities for current and future ACT school teachers to study restorative justice theory and practice.
MR HANSON (Molonglo) (7.08): Mr Speaker, given the time, I would simply encourage the ACT government to do all that it can within its power, using whatever
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .