Page 2354 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 2 August 2017

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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 12.34 to 2.30 pm.

Questions without notice

Bimberi Youth Justice Centre—safety

MR COE: My question is to the Minister for Disability, Children and Youth. Minister, in yesterday’s statement you belittled and intimidated complainants and staff by stating that this discussion is about “unsubstantiated allegations” and “recent sensationalist headlines”. On 8 July, an Amnesty International spokesperson is quoted as saying that “ultimately that comes back to the ACT government and [Ms Stephen-Smith] about taking seriously any allegations of child abuse and ensuring independent investigations are undertaken”. Minister, is the Canberra Times report of 8 July about another assault of a youth worker an example of “unsubstantiated allegations” and “recent sensationalist headlines”?

MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I made it clear both in my statement yesterday and on radio yesterday afternoon that the particular allegations that I was referring to related to allegations of drug use and allegations of organised fighting within Bimberi. As I said in my statement yesterday, the Community Services Directorate has not found any evidence to support such allegations; neither has it received any evidence to support such allegations.

I have also said repeatedly that if people have evidence to support such allegations, they should absolutely bring that evidence forward to the Community Services Directorate, to ACT Policing or to the Human Rights Commission so that such allegations can be investigated. We take all of these allegations very seriously. But I also have a responsibility to consider the wellbeing of staff and young people in Bimberi and their families. So I did make the point that repetition of allegations that the directorate has repeatedly said it has no evidence to substantiate is harmful to morale at Bimberi and is harmful to the families of the young people in Bimberi.

MR COE: Minister, what mechanisms are in place for staff and young people to pass on allegations or evidence about crimes or potential crimes that have taken place at Bimberi?

MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his supplementary question. As I said in my statement yesterday and have repeated on a number of occasions, official visitors are in Bimberi on regular occasions. Last financial year, official visitors visited Bimberi on 46 occasions. They are there to speak to the young people in Bimberi so that the young people can raise any concerns that they have about their treatment or about the way Bimberi is managed. They also engage regularly in conversations with staff at Bimberi, and staff are of course free to raise their concerns with the official visitors.


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