Page 2440 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 June 2011
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a young person’s return to the community akin to a parole system. If a young person breaches their good behaviour order, the person is brought before the sentencing court, and the Court’s sentencing jurisdiction is re-enlivened.
This is not an explanation of the decision but, instead, a vague attempt at justifying the unjustifiable.
What we have heard and seen from the minister here today is that she has recognised, or is beginning to recognise, that the position taken by the former minister, the now Chief Minister, back in 2008, to do away with the existing remissions licence scheme and not substitute a parole board for it, has been a mistake.
We clearly indicated that not having the prospect of release for good behaviour would be a problem in addressing behaviour in youth detention, and we have seen bad behaviour in youth detention. What we are seeing here is the minister admitting that Katy Gallagher got it wrong. Minister Burch has been brought in here to fix up the mess left by Katy Gallagher in relation to this.
This was a matter that we reflected on a great deal at the time. Mr Seselja, Mr Stefaniak, when he was here, and I took a lot of briefings on this. Our staff were involved in a lot of briefings. The clear recollection of those who attended briefings that I have spoken to today on this matter was that they did not want to go down the path of the parole board because it was going to be a cost and they wanted to save money. We are now reaping that whirlwind. What we have here today is the minister admitting that they got it wrong, admitting that her predecessor in this place, in this portfolio, got it wrong. Minister Burch has a lot to do here in relation to youth justice.
One of the things that I am perplexed about is the interaction between all these reporting processes. After the Canberra Liberals started to make a fuss and put some heat on Minister Burch, we had a reaction of very strange proportions. There are people inquiring into the youth justice system all over the place. I think that it is important—of course we believe it is important—but we wanted a much better inquiry than the one that we have got. I am now concerned that there are so many inquiries going on that there is a risk that there will be, like everything else in this government, a lack of coordination; that we will be hard pressed to keep abreast of all the recommendations; and that things will be missed.
I look forward to seeing more substantive policy work done by Ms Burch in this area. We in the Canberra Liberals will be looking at it very closely. The lack of a parole system is a matter that has been actively discussed by members of the Liberal opposition quite recently. We will wait with bated breath to see Ms Burch’s proposals in this area. We will be scrutinising it very closely, as we will be scrutinising all the recommendations and all the work done in relation to youth justice.
I welcome the opportunity today to discuss these matters. I put on the record that this is not policy reformation as Ms Burch claimed it was in the paper today. This is policy catch-up; this is policy fix up. This was a problem that Mr Seselja and I highlighted in 2008, and it has come home to bite this government. This is a failure by Katy Gallagher that Minister Burch now has to fix.
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