Page 136 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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many of our children and young people still end up in the youth justice system. As I stated earlier, funding such programs is an investment with significant dividends. It currently costs $3,319 a day to detain a young person in Bimberi.
In contrast, a young person on a community justice order costs $101 per day. But even a community justice order comes once a youth is already in trouble. Diversion programs that prevent problems in the first place can cost much less than that and avoid the impact on the lives of the children and young people whose needs are met before life becomes too complicated.
I understand that all of these proposals need to be evaluated and considered. But, once again, I passionately call upon the ACT government to make a formal commitment in the upcoming budget to the territory’s children and young people in the middle years. I commend this motion to the Assembly.
Debate interrupted in accordance with standing order 74 and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for a later hour.
Sitting suspended from 11.56 am to 2.00 pm.
Questions without notice
Education—student expulsions
MR COE: My question is to the Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development. Minister, how violent does a student need to be before they would be expelled from an ACT public school?
MS BERRY: There are policies in place for schools and recently there has been a conversation with school principals around suspension processes in schools. It is very difficult to make a judgement on that question from outside when you are not directly involved in the school community or with a particular incident. You have to have faith, and I do have faith, in the profession, in the school leaders and the school communities, to be able to implement those policies appropriately. That should always be the case.
It is unacceptable in any place, but particularly in our schools, for any children to be exposed to violence. The government takes that very seriously, and so does the Education Directorate. That is why we have been rolling out across our schools the program to ensure that our schools are communities where complex and challenging behaviours can be addressed appropriately and where students who commit violence against other students are properly dealt with. There are 48,000 students in our schools. Generally, as I said yesterday, they are safe places. But on some occasions some people in schools get hurt. They need to be properly supported, and perpetrators of violence in schools need to be properly managed.
MR COE: Minister, what aspects of the government’s policies and procedures relating to suspensions and expulsions apply to all schools and all students, and are these policies and procedures public?
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