Page 136 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 February 2016
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Mr Corbell said that Canberra’s becoming a restorative city will be a big and bold aim. I believe Canberra and Canberrans are up to big and bold.
Mr Hanson notes the matters to be dealt with in this place tomorrow. Yes, Madam Speaker, providing RJ opportunities for more serious crimes is complex. However, it can be successfully introduced. I have heard from many people in New South Wales who have introduced this concept, and it has worked for more serious crimes. Mr Corbell and Mr Rattenbury talked about the substantial research in this area and the benefits that can flow from utilising restorative justice when dealing with violent crimes, even domestic violence. Mr Hanson is wrong in his assertion that restorative justice cannot be, and will not ever be, employed in cases of domestic violence or sexual assault. I know it will test the imagination of those in this place that this can happen. Yes, it can be, and does in other places. Of course, this needs to be carefully managed and sensitively undertaken. However, the benefits can be huge.
Ramping up sentencing and locking people away for more and more time just does not work. As Commander Steve Love affirmed, “And if we really examine our heart of hearts, we know.” I suggest that Mr Hanson inform himself a great deal more about how prisoners can undertake restorative justice conferences even from jail. Perhaps he should acquaint himself a bit more about the story of the young man who shot the pizza delivery man, how the father of that person who was shot undertook a restorative justice conference with one of the young offenders, and the good news story that followed.
Some other good news stories are the success of the blueprint for youth justice. Under the blueprint, more than 500 young people were referred. It is programs like restorative justice that helped achieve great success. It helped achieve a reduction of 28 per cent in the number of young people under youth justice supervision and 35 per cent in the number of young people in detention since the commencement of the blueprint. That speaks for itself.
I thank Mr Rattenbury for his comments about restorative justice and its application to schools, and his commitment to that. I look forward to watching the development of Canberra as a restorative city. I already have some of my retirement plans mapped out: to continue to work with the introduction of restorative justice in this place and in other places. I thank members for their contribution.
Motion agreed to.
Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption
MR WALL (Brindabella) (12.10): I move:
That this Assembly:
(1) notes:
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