Page 5906 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 8 December 2010
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So we are accepting of an inquiry. The minister has already responded. We are aware of, of course, and sensitive to the interest of members of this place to ensure that it will be open, objective and transparent and we will support an inquiry. The government does not believe, however, that a board of inquiry, essentially a royal commission, is necessary. And a case has not been made for a royal commission. Essentially what the opposition is proposing here is a royal commission into the management of Bimberi and I do not believe a case for that dramatic legislative, quasi-legal inquiry into Bimberi has been made.
Indeed, as I have indicated in the comments I made, I believe it would be counterproductive and would not achieve the outcomes that members of this place seek to achieve, outcomes that could be better achieved through an inquiry, indeed, of the sort and of the order in the terms of reference that have been proposed by amendments which I understand the Greens propose to move.
MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella) (11.03): Madam Deputy Speaker, I have to express my regret that the mover of this motion and her supporting speaker have not had the courtesy, given the seriousness and the gravity of this particular thing—
Mr Smyth: Did the minister—
Mr Hanson: Joy Burch was not even here when it started, John. Give it a break.
MR HARGREAVES: I am not talking to you gentlemen—and I use that word particularly loosely. They did not have the courtesy to be in the chamber. Rather, they have tried to coerce a position out of the crossbench. That is a bit sad.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I want to address my remarks, through you, to Ms Hunter. In particular, I want to acknowledge that, of all of the members in this place, the person who has the most recent, relevant experience in dealing on a day-to-day basis with young people, particularly young people in difficulty, either through the judicial system or through homelessness et cetera, is Ms Hunter. If anybody here is having a problem internally with this whole process, it would be Ms Hunter. We need to respect that particular position that she finds herself in. I do not envy her that position at all.
What we do need to understand, though, in respect of this issue around Bimberi, is that this is a judicial issue, if you like, in transition. The Quamby Youth Detention Centre was closed and Bimberi was opened, and it was not opened that long ago. What we need to understand is that there is always going to be a culture shift when you go from one institution to the other. I remind members that that same culture shift occurred when we went from the Goulburn experience into the AMC experience.
But we need to understand that in this culture shift is also an attitudinal shift on the part of the people working in this sector. We need to understand that where we are dealing with children and trying to look at their behaviours, we can actually change their direction because their norms have not been fully established yet. They are off the rails but they have not crashed. Adult corrections means desocialisation and
resocialisation; it means actually recreating a human being. Such is not the case in the juvenile justice system.
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