Page 1470 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
That is the letter to the editor by Narelle Hargreaves, Official Visitor to Bimberi.
As I have said, we will not be supporting Mrs Dunne’s motion. We will be supporting the proposed amendment by Ms Hunter. I finally say to Mrs Dunne that we are wanting this process to be rigorous, to be open, to have as much input as possible from a range of people and, if those making contact with her office have evidence that needs to be put to the inquiry, they should do that.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (4.38): It is very positive that so much attention is being given to youth justice and I think there will now be significant and positive change as a result of this attention. But enough is enough. The time is now well past to let the independent body conducting the review do their job. The Assembly has resolved on three separate occasions now that the best way to identify the problems and find the solutions that will deliver better outcomes for the young people who come into contact with the youth justice system is through the current inquiry process.
I hope that this is the end of the political interference and that Mrs Dunne and the Canberra Liberals can accept that a process is underway and that it should be allowed to run its course. If she is unhappy with the outcome then of course she should bring the issue back to the Assembly. But until that time, the best thing that can be done for the young people and the staff at Bimberi is to let the inquiry run its course, without interference or further undermining from the Assembly.
On the substance of the motion and the call for all those documents, firstly I have to say it does reflect quite poorly on Mrs Dunne that she is calling for a range of documents that are freely available on the legislation register and have been for around two years now. The Children and Young People Act 2008 provides that policy and procedures for the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre are notifiable instruments. This of course means that not only are the current versions available but all the point-in-time versions and the dates that they were effective are also available. An extensive range of policies are available on the register at www.legislation.gov.au/NI, I believe. But they are there for all to see.
Examples of the policy and procedures that are currently listed include Children and Young People (Escorts) Policy and Procedures 2009 (No 1), the Children and Young People (Health and Wellbeing) Policy and Procedures 2008 (No 1), the Children and Young People (Minimum Living Conditions) Policy and Procedures 2008 (No 1), the Children and Young People (Official Visitor Complaint) Guidelines 2009 (No 1), the Children and Young People (Provision of Information, Review of Decisions and Complaints) Policy and Procedures 2008 (No 1), the Children and Young People (Records and Reporting) Policy and Procedures 2008 (No 1) and the Children and Young People (Safety and Security) Policy and Procedures 2008 (No 1).
These are just some of those policies and procedures. I readily acknowledge that I have not double checked all of them thoroughly, but it appears that none of them have been changed. Perhaps with one or two exceptions all were adopted before Bimberi was opened. The dates are on the front page of the instruments. I would also make the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video