Page 80 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 15 February 2011
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should be at the expense of the developers. This is noted. Advice from ACTION via Territory and Municipal Services about servicing the existing proposed estate has been included in the response to recommendation 4 of the report above. ACTION does advise, though, that the residents in the existing estate have previously opposed plans to run buses due to their concerns about noise and pollution.
With that, I commend the variation to the Assembly.
Diversionary practices in youth justice
Paper and statement by minister
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Women) (4.12): For the information of members, I present the following paper:
Towards a diversionary framework for the ACT—Discussion paper, prepared by the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services, dated 14 February 2011.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the paper.
I am pleased to table today for the information of members a copy of the ACT government’s discussion paper Towards a diversionary framework for the ACT. This paper has been formulated to engage stakeholders in a dialogue on the way forward to promote better futures for young people in, or at risk of, contact with the youth justice system.
The ACT justice system has as one of its fundamental principles the notion that rehabilitation is possible for every offender. Indeed, international research tells us that a high rate of incarceration does not equate to lower crime rates. In fact, it is quite the opposite.
That is why the ACT government has for some time now been working on this discussion paper, which has as one of its core objectives to address the underlying factors that are contributing to the ACT’s higher than average remand rates for juveniles and an over-representation of Indigenous youths in our juvenile justice system. A closer examination of these detention figures in the ACT reveals that many of the short-term remand periods that we are seeing can, or ought to be, preventable.
We need a considered approach to the bail processes around juvenile justice. The objective of this paper is to improve our juvenile justice system so we do not have bail conditions that are unnecessarily difficult for young people and conditions that of themselves place additional and unnecessary pressures on families.
It is around supporting young people on bail to ensure that they have adequate support while on bail to help them to comply with their conditions. We know that periods of
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