Page 4142 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 22 October 2019
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This speaks again to an ongoing culture of improvement at Bimberi in terms of ensuring that the centre is consistently upholding the human rights of young people and providing a rehabilitative environment for some of the most complex, most difficult, most traumatised young people in our community. The way Mrs Kikkert talks about it and the way Mrs Kikkert misrepresents it do absolutely nothing to support the staff of Bimberi.
Mr Coe: Has anyone been in for 22 hours?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: Mr Coe asks if anyone has been in for 22 hours. While I should ignore the interjection, of course, everyone is aware that there was a major incident at Bimberi recently, and the subsequent management of the centre after that incident, for the safety of staff and for the safety of young people, involved some lockdowns for a short number of days when young people were locked in—
Mr Coe interjecting—
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: Mrs Kikkert talks about this as if it is something that happens all the time, as if this is a regular occurrence, not a response to an incident.
Mr Coe interjecting—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Coe!
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I should move on. But the last thing I want to say about that is in relation to Mrs Kikkert’s response. She did not mention the fact that the Human Rights Commission did a very thorough investigation in relation to Bimberi. Over an 18-month period the commission investigated and it did not reveal widespread disregard for the human rights of young people at Bimberi or mistreatment of young people at Bimberi. In fact most young people interviewed spoke highly of most staff members, and the report is actually quite complimentary in a lot of ways in relation to Bimberi.
But Bimberi is only one part of the youth justice system. As members are aware, the ACT youth justice system is guided by the blueprint for youth justice in the ACT from 2012 to 2022. This is an award-winning blueprint for youth justice, a 10-year strategy that provides a framework for youth justice reform in the ACT through early support, prevention, diversion and rehabilitative support for young people from the youth justice system. It has guided evidence-based reform that recognises that by reducing risk factors and strengthening protective factors the ACT community will be better equipped to keep young people safe, strong and connected. In the long term the blueprint has sought to ensure that the ACT community is a safer place for everyone, where fewer young people are at risk of, or engage in, offending.
The progress reports against the blueprint highlight that this has in fact led to a significant reduction overall in the number of young people engaged in the youth justice system; again, something you would never know from listening to Mrs Kikkert. She never wants to celebrate the success of the ACT in comparison to other
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