Page 2430 - Week 07 - Thursday, 3 August 2017
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(d) on 4 July, The Canberra Times reported on the “living hell” of a facility characterised by violence, alcohol and drugs, racial slurs, and a lack of resources and staff training. Amnesty International called on the Prime Minister to intervene. A public servant was sent out to front the media; the Minister was absent;
(e) on 8 July, fresh allegations emerged of a detainee brawl in May 2017, of a youth worker tackled by a detainee in June, of daily incidents and short staffing endangering staff. The Minister dismissed all of this as “mostly historical”. Amnesty International said it was time for the Minister to take responsibility. The Minister said she was awaiting the results of the Human Rights Commission investigation, which had been going on for two months;
(f) on 25 July, The Canberra Times reported another brawl on 16 July between two groups of detainees in which a youth worker who intervened was injured. The police were investigating. Three sources within the facility reported a state of constant turmoil for staff. Former detainees were considering class action; and
(g) since March, the Minister has consistently failed to appreciate the seriousness of the problems at Bimberi and she has failed to respond adequately to those problems. She has ignored the concerns of detainees, staff and independent third parties. She has been more concerned about stopping the problems being made public than about fixing the problems themselves. The situation at Bimberi is dangerous and requires effective and responsible ministerial oversight which the Minister is incapable of providing.
Thank you, Madam Speaker, and thank you, members, for giving me leave to move this important motion. The catalogue of failings which has led to this point in the operation of Bimberi is long. It is too long. In March this year information started to emerge in the Canberra Times of a series of incidents in May 2016 at the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre. Three young people assaulted youth workers, three of whom were sent to hospital for treatment. Four employees were stood down. Despite the incident having occurred 10 months before the reporting in March 2017, investigation by the directorate into the incident was still ongoing.
As so often happens in the ACT, information had to be dragged out of the government through a freedom of information request that has been published by the Canberra Times. The response of the responsible minister, Ms Stephen-Smith, was also predictable: policies and procedures have been reviewed and the attack was an isolated incident. There was nothing to see.
But unfortunately there was something to see, and there was much more to see. Further Canberra Times articles in March reported low staff morale and concerns about management, staff shortages and the lack of adequate training. There were also union concerns. We in the opposition started asking questions here in question time. Of course, the answers were vague and there was a promise to report back to the Assembly about training.
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