Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I spoke last week in this place about the Northern Territory government finally announcing a tender process for a youth engagement hub at a new location in Leanyer in Darwin. We announced the youth engagement hub as an election commitment in 2022, almost four years ago. Ever since the Youth Shack at Casuarina closed, there had been a great need for a place that young people could drop in to hang out, to play some sport and to connect with mentors and services. Working with the then Territory Labor government, after significant consultation, a site was selected at the old Casuarina fire station. This site was chosen due to its centrality, including its proximity to the Casuarina Square shopping centre and bus services, as well as youth mental health services such as headspace, in areas where young people live and study and work. A key element of the concept for this location was the interest from the Casuarina Square's owners, Sentinel, to provide internships and traineeships at the retail areas for those young people. That would allow them to engage effectively with appropriate supports but also be within walking distance of those employment opportunities.

A consultation process was undertaken for the model of care of these young people and the design of the site. That was all done and developed. The Darwin Men's Shed was at the old Casuarina fire station at the time. I made a commitment for a million dollars, and they were moved to a temporary site to allow the old Casuarina fire station to be razed to the ground—it was full of asbestos—so that the site could be prepared for the building of the youth engagement hub. Everything was in place. It was a shovel-ready site. But then came the NT government election. Enter the CLP NT government. On the basis of a shonky petition, they decided to move the youth engagement hub, even though it was shovel ready. The petition was a sham and wasn't reflective of the community that that these young people lived in. Shameful! It was all counter to the stakeholder engagement report that was commissioned previously. I'm talking about 450 stakeholders.

The aim, of course, of the youth hub is to improve the wellbeing of our youth, and it will also help to reduce youth offending rates, which has been and continues to be a major issue for the local community. The shame of this was that the Casuarina fire station site was shovel ready, and we could have been opening it about now instead of starting a new process, 18 months later, all over again. But we are where we are. The Northern Territory government must deliver on this objective of supporting our young people with the required funding and services as a matter of priority. The federal government funding is still there for the build, but we've wasted a lot of time. I will move on, but the original plan was for a dedicated, fit-for-purpose facility with safe indoor and outdoor spaces and long opening hours to better service the needs of young people in our community. And, as I said, we would have been able to open it about now.

We need a dedicated permanent structure to deliver the opportunity for young people, the hub model, with the co-location of NT government agencies and non-government agencies that deliver those youth services. A one-stop youth engagement hub is exactly what we need. It is still some time away. To have that engagement with the students and young people and flexible learning models, the youth hub will work with young people from 10 to 17. There will be scope for families to become involved. If there's a young person that attends a youth engagement hub, they may bring younger siblings in. It will engage with the families. Providing a safe and engaging space for children and young people is so important, linking them to support services where needed and linking those families in, as I said, and encouraging them to also engage with our young people.

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