Page 4557 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 18 October 2011
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That relates to recommendation 17.15. The JACS Directorate is also considering the presumption against bail for young people accused of breaching domestic or family violence orders. This will be done in a consultative process with stakeholders.
I would now like to turn to the government’s key initiatives to develop a blueprint for youth justice in the ACT and the work of the youth justice implementation task force. The blueprint for youth justice is something that I announced in July of this year, when I said the government had a commitment to developing a blueprint for youth justice in the ACT that will provide strategic direction for the development of the youth justice system over the next five to 10 years.
Also in July I announced the establishment of the youth justice implementation task force, comprising representatives from government, business and the community. The first role of the task force has been to provide considered advice in respect of the HRC report and each of the 224 recommendations. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my thanks to the task force for the work it has undertaken in such a short period of time.
The task force will now embark on its major role of developing the blueprint for youth justice in the ACT. There are a number of things that the task force will need to consider with government in developing the blueprint. Firstly, the blueprint will need to be informed by the HRC report, including the quality elements of the youth justice system identified by the commission and the elements needed to support the rehabilitative outcomes for children and young people. The latter includes therapeutic programming meeting the needs of vulnerable population groups, culturally appropriate practice, education and health services, human rights compliance in conditions of detention and through-care.
Building services that reflect these elements around vulnerable children and young people and their families will be critical. In particular, the government will prioritise early intervention, prevention and diversion. We know that reducing a child’s or young person’s exposure to custodial settings provides a greater probability that the child or young person can be diverted from deeper, longer-lasting and overall more harmful exposure to the youth justice system. In accordance with our legislation, detention needs to be considered as a last resort.
The government is already progressing significant work around the establishment of early intervention, prevention and diversion pathways to support vulnerable young children and young people. In February of this year I released the discussion paper “Towards a diversionary framework for the ACT”. The Community Services Directorate undertook a comprehensive two-month consultative process and the feedback informed the report that was produced through Noetic Solutions.
The minister for education has recently announced major changes through the ACT youth commitment to place education at the centre of children and young people’s lives to ensure that young people remain supported and accounted for as they move from school to further education and training or work. Through the ACT youth commitment, the participation of children and young people is enhanced and families and communities are strengthened to support young people at risk.
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