Page 5774 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 7 December 2011
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fairly solid space. We have got a significant number of programs that are doing our young people well. I would just like the occasional recognition of that through either the commission or members in this place.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (10.46): Mr Speaker, I flag that I will seek leave to move an amendment later.
MR SPEAKER: I am sure that will be fine.
MRS DUNNE: I thank members for their indulgence.
I want to thank Ms Hunter for bringing forward this motion, which the Canberra Liberals will be largely supporting, with an amendment which I will speak to later in the debate.
The Human Rights Commission’s report on its investigation into youth justice in the ACT is a formidable document—close to 400 pages plus appendices—and makes more than 200 recommendations.
Members will be aware that the Human Rights Commission has, on occasions, been on the receiving end of some considerable criticism from me. But let me make two observations about the commission’s approach to the task that the Assembly set it in the review of the youth justice system in the ACT and the human rights audit of the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre.
First, the commission’s report is a learned, well-founded document, setting out an honest assessment of the ACT’s youth justice system and making a large number of recommendations. The commission believes that implementation of these recommendations will result in best practice and setting a benchmark if those recommendations are implemented.
Second, the commission has not taken the view that, on handing in its report, its job has finished—far from it, Mr Speaker. The commission has taken a very proactive role in assessing the government’s response to the report and in monitoring the implementation of the recommendations. It is not letting the government off the hook with interpretations that the commission did not intend and it is not letting the government get away with glossing over its recommendations.
To demonstrate its commitment to seeing this exercise through to the end, the commission hosted a community forum recently, to get more views about what the community saw as essential elements for a future youth justice system in the ACT. While the outcomes of that forum were largely as one might expect, it did serve to cement the view of the commission, expressed in its report, that the youth justice system in the ACT is failing our young people. It is struggling to deliver in a way that facilitates a positive future for our young people who are currently falling through the cracks.
The commission’s ongoing engagement in the development of a best practice youth justice system is commendable and perhaps an unexpected outcome of the review. For
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