Page 3853 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 25 September 2019
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MR HANSON: It is the data source that was drawn from a Canberra Times article titled, which has a source document in it, I imagine. You will be able to Google that, I am sure.
Mr Steel: Maybe you should have.
MR HANSON: I did. That is why I am asking the question.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, to your question.
MR HANSON: Thank you for those rude interjections from the minister. Minister, how many young Canberrans have problems with the use of ice which consequently results in involvement with the justice system?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I will take the question on notice. I am not entirely sure that I will be able to provide a definitive answer around how many young Canberrans are engaged with the justice system as a result of their use of ice. Again, if someone can clarify whether you mean young Canberrans, as in youth justice under the age of 18, or whether you mean young Canberrans up to the age of 25, it would be helpful.
Certainly for young offenders under the age of 18, a lot of the young people we see engaged with the youth justice system have very complex lives and a range of issues that affect them and lead to offending behaviour. Drug use may be one of those issues but the impact of childhood trauma and the impact of adverse childhood experiences are significant issues. Other life factors—mental health, stresses in their lives—all contribute to potential engagement with the youth justice system. So I am not sure that I am going to be able to provide Mr Hanson with an answer that narrows it down to one specific driver for engagement with the youth justice system.
MS LAWDER: Minister, what education programs has the ACT government run targeting at-risk communities over the past decade about the risks of drug use?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I am going to have to come back to the Assembly on notice with some detail around that because there is a very wide range of drug and alcohol programs, education programs. There would be programs run through the Education Directorate in schools; there would be programs run in the community by non-government organisations. There are also programs run by the ACT government. If we are talking about every awareness program in the alcohol and other drugs sector across the ACT for the past decade, this is an enormous amount of information.
Ms Lawder: I said ACT government.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: Some things are funded by the ACT government and delivered by the non-government sector. If I could get some further clarity, potentially Ms Lawder might like to put a question on notice rather than asking a question without notice if she is seeking this level and amount of detail about a decade worth of educational programs.
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