Page 3291 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 16 August 2011
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two years, has now been filled. Dr Mark Collis commences on 29 August and I welcome him to this role.
Despite what has been highlighted from the report, I would like to take the opportunity to mark that significant reforms undertaken by the ACT government over the past 12 months have been recognised by the Human Rights Commission in this report which stated:
Positively, the Commission heard that much has changed at Bimberi in the last six to eight months. Generally, many participants report feeling cautiously positive about the leadership behaviour of the current management, and welcoming of the Change Management Strategy that was introduced at Bimberi in November 2010.
This shows that this government has been serious about improving outcomes for young people in Bimberi over the last year and we are seeing those positive outcomes. To continue improving communication within the centre an organisational climate survey has been conducted by Danny O’Neil of the Richmond Fellowship through face-to-face interviews with staff at Bimberi and there are reports that staff perceive a range of improvements to the centre’s functioning. We are well on track to establish an after-hours bail support service by October this year to assist young people on bail and fresh charges outside business hours.
A move to a single case management model across Bimberi and community youth justice is now in place. This model will ensure the continuity of relationships with young people within the justice system regardless of whether they are in the community or in custody. Young people will have the same case manager when they leave Bimberi and we expect that this will provide a significant and positive outcome. This has been guided by the development of our diversional framework with a clear focus on the effort of diverting young people away from the criminal justice system, particularly time spent either in custody or on remand in sentence. I think I mentioned earlier today in response to one of the questions that any investment in the detention centre is certainly warranted and needs to be put in place, but we really, as a society, need to look at early intervention and diversion from a detention environment.
We have put in place a task force to oversight and support the government in the recommendations as we move through this. The task force has a significant membership with experts in youth justice and policy and practice—that is, Emma Robertson, Peter Sanderman, Peter Murphy, Rod Little and Danny O’Neil. They have met already. They have had one meeting and they will meet again next week. In addition to those experts, we have representatives of the department of education, Health, JACS and the Chief Minister’s department. The task force will be crucial in developing a blueprint for youth justice and that will fall within the key elements of a quality youth justice system identified by the Human Rights Commission.
I accept that we need to develop better information resources for young people and families to understand their engagement with the youth justice system and the service supports that are available. We also need to have a look at how we manage our critical incidents, developing a better support model for staff and involving young people in debriefings. We also need to improve community participation in reviewing a shared
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