Online Article-TasCOSS welcomes move to remove children from Ashley Youth Detention Centre

TasCOSS welcomes move to remove children from Ashley Youth Detention Centre

TasCOSS has welcomed the Legislative Council’s vote supporting Nelson MLC Meg Webb’s motion to establish an emergency taskforce to remove children from Ashley Youth Detention Centre (AYDC).

TasCOSS CEO Ms Adrienne Picone and several community service organisations confirmed their interest in working with the Tasmanian Government to remove children from AYDC.

Ms Picone expressed her keen interest in establishing a taskforce to ensure the children and young people detained at AYDC are removed from the facility and moved into safe and therapeutic community-based care.

“Our community organisations – who already know and work with Tasmanian families and children – stand ready to work alongside the Tasmanian Government to offer essential support and arrangements for those children currently locked up at Ashley,” Ms Picone said.

“TasCOSS, along with stakeholder groups, including the Commissioner for Children and Young People Tasmania, have long been calling on the Government to establish a taskforce to reduce the number of children at Ashley.”

A transition to community-based care instead

The CEO said TasCOSS offered to work with the Government to identify and address the needs of all children currently incarcerated at AYDC and plan for their transition to community-based care.

“The Legislative Council’s vote in support of the creation of a taskforce should assure the Government that it has the backing of the community for urgent action to occur.

“TasCOSS and a group of community service organisations recently had a constructive conversation with the Minister about the support we can provide, and we look forward to working collaboratively with the Government.

“This includes progressing this crucial work to implement a therapeutic response which upholds the safety and wellbeing of young people and provides the necessary resources and supports to aid their rehabilitation,” Ms Picone said.

MLC Meg Webb said she welcomed “the common-sense and compassionate vote of the Upper House supporting an emergency Ashley Taskforce as proposed by community sector and civil society organisations” and was “hopeful the Rockliff government will heed this call.”

“It is 1013 days and counting since the Liberals promised to shut the AYDC. The Government is finding itself increasingly isolated due to its failure to do so.

“Ashley Youth Detention Centre has become the Point Puer of modern Tasmania, and for many, it cannot be relegated to the history books fast enough,” Ms Webb said.

Minster responds in question time

Clark MP Kristie Johnston asked the Minister for Education, Children and Youth of Tasmania, Roger Jaensch, about establishing this taskforce during parliamentary question time on June 20.

Mr Jaensch said there are currently 13 young people in AYDC, five of whom are sentenced, eight of whom are on remand.

“We need to continue to work through the individual needs of the young people who remain on remand and who are entering remand every day to ensure that we are exhausting all opportunities to support them,” Mr Jaensch said.

“The work that we’ve done so far has been successful in this area.

“We are intensifying it, but we realise a highly individual case-by-case assessment is needed.

“No two young people have the same story or needs.”

Ms Webb hit back at Mr Jaensch’s comments in question time and said:

“Enough is enough. Premier Rockliff must now intervene and establish the urgent AYDC taskforce immediately,” Ms Webb said.

“The Premier pledged last month that the government’s response to the Commission of Inquiry would be driven by the imperative to ‘get it right’.

“Well, Minister Jaensch is getting it very wrong. His refusal in today’s Assembly Question Time to act following the Upper House vote of Tuesday is a slap in the face of stakeholders who have tried to engage in good faith and is disrespectful of the Parliament.”

The Examiner contacted Mr Jaensch and he said he met with TasCOSS only a few days ago.

“We agreed that we need to continue to work through the individual needs of the young people who remain on remand,” Mr Jaensch said.

“And those who are entering remand every day to ensure that we are exhausting all opportunities to support them, to apply for bail.

“To put supports around them that enable them to see out their period on bail, awaiting the termination of their court process in the community with the supports that need them.

“The work that we’ve done so far has been successful in this area.

“We are intensifying it, but we realise that is a highly individual case by case assessment that’s needed. No two young people have the same story, the same needs.”

The minister said TasCOSS agreed that none of the community service provider organisations are in a position to be a detention facility.

“So we’re talking about the smaller number of young people on remand who choose to with their legal teams and families apply for bail.

“We need to assess their individual needs and where we can match that with capability in the sector. We’ll do that.

“We’ve committed to working closely with the sector to do that, acknowledging that we’re not going to be able to get all possible service providers.

“We are effectively delivering just that right now by having people involved in the individual case management of young people to determine their needs and then interact with the sector to identify which service providers can provide elements of the supports that they need,” Mr Jaensch said.