Page 4141 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 22 October 2019
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The case that was brought by the young woman in relation to her human rights was an important one. The Community Services Directorate will be making some changes in response to that. It has brought a better understanding of how young people experience separation. That is not segregation, but young people will experience it in a similar way, and because it is not governed by the same procedures as segregation, it does not provide the same opportunity for young people to question the decision that has been made. Those things will, of course, be looked into.
The way that Mrs Kikkert represented that matter is a complete misrepresentation of that matter, as was her commentary around lockdowns—a complete misrepresentation of the current situation at Bimberi. Mrs Kikkert talked about young people being locked down for 22 hours a day as if that is a regular occurrence. That is absolutely not the case.
The reason that this is so important is that misrepresenting the conditions at Bimberi—which I have just spoken about in relation to the official visitor’s report and which is spoken about in the Human Rights Commission annual report—and making them sound much worse than the actual experience of being in Bimberi is not good for young people. It is certainly not good for their families. And it is not good for the very hardworking staff who work every day with some of the most complex, most difficult young people in our community to provide a genuinely rehabilitative environment. That includes the teachers at the Murrumbidgee Education and Training Centre, who do an outstanding job ensuring that all young people at Bimberi have access to education and training.
Mrs Kikkert, in a very desperate move, went back to a 2005 report about Quamby. She talked about a lack of family visits. She knows—she should know—that the headline indicators report that I recently tabled indicated more than 1,500 visits to Bimberi by family and friends last year. With an average daily population in Bimberi of 11, there were more than 1,500 visits by family and friends. I just tabled the official visitor’s report; the official visitors are there on average more than once a week. They are part of an oversight regime which also sees the Public Advocate and Children and Young People Commissioner there probably more than once a week on average.
Speaking of the Public Advocate and Children and Young People Commissioner, I would refer Mrs Kikkert to their annual report. There are some issues drawn out in that annual report, and we have seen some of them reported. But they also note that we have moved to a situation where there were no reported strip searches in the 2018-19 reporting period. When other jurisdictions come and visit Bimberi, they are surprised at the way we manage our human rights compliant youth justice centre.
In the 2018-19 reporting period, the Public Advocate and Children and Young People Commissioner report that they received two notifications of segregation in relation to two detainees, relating to the same incident. Segregation on these occasions was for a period of five days for both young people. They note that this is a welcome shift from the previous reporting period, in which there were 10 occasions of segregation.
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