Page 1393 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 6 May 2015
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I will also talk a little about the services provided to Indigenous youth at Bimberi, which is a very small but critical number of young people. Bimberi provides a number of supports and services to Indigenous young people, including a family engagement officer who supports young people and their families whilst a young person is in custody. The position is an identified position that is responsible for supporting Indigenous young people and their families, cultural activities, recognition of Aboriginal celebrations and community connections. The family engagement officer is also a member of the Reconciliation Australia panel.
Narrabundah House provides support for young Indigenous males on youth justice orders and those transitioning from custody. The Murrumbidgee Education and Training Centre within Bimberi has a transition officer who also supports young people transitioning from custody to education and employment. That position is an identified position. The transition officer works in partnership with the family engagement officer to facilitate cultural awareness activities and celebrations.
There is an Indigenous counsellor from Relationships Australia attending Bimberi on a needs basis to provide one-on-one and group yarning sessions. Representatives from Winnunga attend Bimberi on a weekly basis to participate in sporting programs and activities. Gugan Gulwan, as I have previously mentioned, also conducts arts programs on a weekly basis and a music program in the school holidays. The Aboriginal Legal Service provides services to young people in Bimberi, including welfare support as required.
Bimberi has interconnecting rooms that offer the opportunity to accommodate Indigenous siblings and family members who are in custody at Bimberi at the same time. They are about to commence a new Indigenous program for this term, targeting land management, leadership, cultural identity, traditional ecological knowledge and music. The program will be delivered as a partnership between Greening Australia, the Environment and Planning Directorate and the Indigenous Leadership Centre.
A Bimberi Youth Justice Centre Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs and services committee has been formed to discuss and identify programs and services for young people in Bimberi and to respond to those gaps in services so that we have some adaptive knowledge working to deliver better services in a facility that I am sure we will all agree is very important and that is doing very important work. I will close there, Madam Speaker, and once again commend the motion to the Assembly.
Amendment agreed to.
Motion, as amended, agreed to.
Sitting suspended from 12.29 to 2.30 pm.
Questions without notice
Hospitals—University of Canberra
MR HANSON: My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, over three years ago, on 20 January 2012, the previous health minister released a report which
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