Page 2432 - Week 07 - Thursday, 3 August 2017
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MS STEPHEN-SMITH: The second part of the question I will take on notice. I am happy to provide regular updates to the Assembly …
Three non-answers on staff training, an issue which is central to the concerns about Bimberi. The next day, 11 May, the minister was asked another question:
Minister, multiple sources have brought to my attention that young people in the territory are posting on social media sites photographs of themselves taken inside the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre. Under what circumstances is it acceptable for photographs of detainees to be taken inside Bimberi?
The minister’s response:
I am aware of one particular incident that Mrs Kikkert refers to but I am not sure how much I am able to say about that. It is one particular matter. I would describe it as an incident, actually. I am not sure I am able to say about that; so I will take the question on notice.
Two months later, the practical implications of a minister who simply does not know what is happening in her portfolio were becoming clear. On 4 July, the Canberra Times ran a series of articles on the “living hell” of a facility characterised by violence, alcohol and drugs, racial slurs and a lack of resources and staff training. In fact, Amnesty International called on the Prime Minister to intervene. A lawyer working on widely reported concerns in the Northern Territory also condemned Bimberi.
There are many more harrowing stories that opposition MLAs have been told. Of course, many are very hard to substantiate, given the secure nature of Bimberi. However, the frequency with which we have been told them, and the number of sources, suggest that there is something there. I imagine members of the Greens, members of the media and perhaps other members of our community have also heard these stories. If the government has not heard these stories it shows that they either do not have systems in place to hear them or they are not trusted.
I raised the opposition’s concerns about a systemic problem within Bimberi that no minister seems willing to confront. I noted that the minister seemed more concerned about a whistleblower making concerns public rather than about the substance of those concerns.
A public servant was sent out to front the media a few weeks ago. The minister was absent. The Canberra Times rightly criticised the government’s evasive, defensive and, at times, inconsistent response. An ACT official visitor resigned in disgust. 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 being mostly historical.
Amnesty International said that it was time for the minister to take responsibility. However, the minister said that she was awaiting the results of the Human Rights
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