Page 802 - Week 03 - Thursday, 2 April 2020
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This bill proposes a much larger raft of amendments to the Children and Young People Act. Many of these provide time extensions, considering the difficulties that may occur because of COVID-19. Extensions to carer approval and voluntary care agreements are certainly reasonable, as are court-determined extensions to certain government activities such as appraisal and assessment orders. In these last cases it will be necessary, however, to monitor these processes to make sure they are not unduly blowing out time-wise. There are, after all, very good reasons why these processes have very strict time limits in current legislation. It is likewise reasonable for this bill to exempt people from being subject to the offence provision if the emergency makes it impossible to comply with the order.
Two other amendments to the Children and Young People Act proposed by this bill relate to Bimberi Youth Justice Centre. The second of these empowers the director-general to issue a leave permit to detainees because of the COVID-19 emergency, and this permit can be longer than current law allows. As we know, places of detention are at risk of outbreaks of infection, and the ability to remove young people to protect them is wise.
The other proposed amendment would empower the director-general to make an emergency declaration in relation to COVID-19, essentially locking down the detention centre and granting emergency powers. This lockdown could last for the duration of the public health emergency. This is a very serious business.
Currently, our legislation limits the length of an emergency declaration to three days, for very good reason. The research is clear that locking down a youth detention centre for a long period is harmful to young people and increases the chance of riots and other serious troubles. Having pointed that out, I understand that it could be necessary, for health reasons, to exercise the power allowed under this amendment.
But the government must be very cautious in exercising this power. It is a decision that must be subject to intense scrutiny. Emergency powers include restricting activities, blocking access in and out, and cutting off communications—all very serious actions with enormous impacts on our young people.
When concerns were raised in a briefing with the minister, she gave an assurance that the director-general would take only reasonable steps and pointed out that the Human Rights Commission would be overseeing the whole process. Unfortunately, this is an area where public trust in this government has been significantly eroded. For some time now Bimberi has been characterised by regular lockdowns because of poor staffing levels and other issues. And the impact has not been too good. Unfortunately, oversight by the Human Rights Commission is no longer much comfort in the ACT, where those opposite increasingly pay no heed to the commissioners.
In a submission to a committee hearing last year, the Human Rights Commission noted that they were struggling to get needed child protection information from this government and were being sidelined when it came to exercising their oversight responsibilities for young people. Just this morning all four human rights commissioners issued a signed letter, along with 12 other experts, reprimanding this
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