Page 5986 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 8 December 2010
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juvenile justice policy is about diversion of young people from the criminal justice system, and the ACT Greens support this policy. However, we also know that young people move through a critical stage of development in the adolescent years.
There are many risk and protective factors that can influence the pathways that young people take along the way to adulthood. It is unfortunate, and yet a reality of society, that a small group of young people commit offences that see them incarcerated as a principle of last resort. The Greens take the rehabilitation and restoration of young people back to the community very seriously and realise the broad-ranging negative impacts that affect children, young people, families and the community at large when this goes wrong.
I will move an amendment to the motion that was moved by Mrs Dunne. With reference to paragraph 1(a) of the motion, we acknowledge the important role that those who work in youth detention environments play in managing and maintaining safe environments for both themselves and detainees and enhancing the rehabilitative activities for young people within Bimberi. We believe those working in this type of environment, like all workers in the community, have a right to safe working conditions.
We also agree with paragraph 1(b) of Mrs Dunne’s motion that staff shortage and high turnover or churn rates of staff are possibly symptomatic of broader challenges for the Bimberi facility and youth justice services in general. We understand that, although staff may leave Bimberi or community youth justice, they are often retained in the ACT public service. Therefore, staff turnover rates are not necessarily truly reflected in the turnover figures.
In relation to paragraph 1(c), which refers to high levels of staff dissatisfaction, it is important that we take the time to listen to the needs of staff, young people, their families and community, and youth sector providers and value the contributions they have to the change agenda within youth justice services. However, we also need to make sure that these contributions are recorded in such a way as to provide an increased level of accountability and transparency so that change can be driven forward in a positive way.
In relation to paragraph 1(d), two years ago the Children and Young People Act was enacted. Along the way we had the opportunities to make changes to parts of that act to ensure that the legislation operated efficiently. A large part of this legislation is about the administration of the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre.
During this time we also had a substantial move from the Quamby Youth Detention Centre to the much needed new facility—the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre. This is a state-of-the-art facility that has been heavily invested in by the Canberra community. This is supposed to be a human rights compliant detention centre, but what does this all mean if those who operate in this system are unhappy with conditions, are not able to provide quality services, or cannot access services as required and poor outcomes result? The risk we run when we have any type of closed community where confidentiality and privacy are primary concerns is that a culture can develop that lacks transparency and, therefore, accountability. This type of culture leads to poorer outcomes for the young people detained inside.
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