Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about Youth Connect, a not-for-profit community focused organisation that offers assistance to young people in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. In particular, I want to highlight a new program that has recently been implemented called Right Step, a young offenders’ diversion and re-engagement program. Established in 2004 following the merger of the Moorabbin Oakleigh Springvale development group and various bayside organisations, Youth Connect is located in the Victorian suburb of Bentleigh. Youth Connect has established itself as an outstanding example of an organisation supporting young people who are disengaged or at risk of disengaging from education, training and employment. The organisation works with the local community to provide pathways for all young people through secondary education, further learning and employment. Danny Schwarz and his team do a terrific job. In my view they are truly inspiring in what they have done and are doing.

Youth Connect and its predecessors have, through the delivery of government funded initiatives including the Howard government’s Jobs Pathways Program, Youth Pathways, Local Community Partnerships and the Victorian government’s workforce participation programs, supported more than 5,000 young people to re-engage in education, training and employment. The Right Step program was born out of a need first identified by Victoria Police and has been developed through extensive collaboration with many community organisations, including the Moorabbin police and the Moorabbin Justice Centre, the Department of Human Services, the City of Bayside and the City of Kingston. The need for Right Step was verified by rising crime statistics in the Bayside area, which revealed that 1,625 young people between 10 and 18 years of age had been dealt with by local police in the 2008-09 financial year. What is even more disturbing is that nearly 50 per cent of these young adults had already been charged with multiple offences.

The Right Step program has been designed to keep these young offenders from the court system and to assist in identifying and addressing issues that may put the young person at risk of reoffending. The referral of the young offender is determined by the police member at the time of the charges being laid. The program involves counselling, guidance, coaching, education and career pathway planning. It also encourages the young person to set goals, steps and tasks to overcome the identified barriers that are causing them to reoffend. Right Step involves the young offender agreeing to participate in the program, and the young person is then obligated to attend and participate in at least eight sessions over an eight-week period. The assigned case manager will then determine whether it is necessary for the individual to attend additional appointments. Following the completion of the program, a report is written to the court for the magistrate to take into consideration when reaching a determination. At the discretion of the magistrate, the charges could be reduced or even dismissed. Youth Connect then maintains contact with the young person for a period of 12 months.

It has been remarkably successful already. Recently the Productivity Commission identified that the recurrent cost of an adult prisoner per year was over $75,000. Youth Connect estimates that to foster a young person through their program would only cost an average of $2,500 to $3,000, clearly a great investment. The sustainability of the Right Step program will rely heavily on government and community funding to establish sound evidence of its impact. However, due to lack of funding, the Right Step program has been established only as a three-year pilot, and currently Youth Connect is using their own reserves, with a small philanthropic grant.

Through its dedicated work, Youth Connect is now providing an opportunity for the community through Right Step to see change in legislation that will allow magistrates and police to divert young people into programs that provide intervention and support. In turn, both federal and state governments will include diversion programs for young people in appropriate departmental budgets. Additional federal and state government funding to help young offenders get an opportunity to rehabilitate and avoid the court system is a very cost-effective investment, and I ask the Australian government to seriously consider such an investment. Without the support of Youth Connect, many of these young people will be forced to navigate the welfare system, and source support, on their own or, more likely, end up in jail. I applaud very strongly the efforts of Danny Schwarz and his colleagues.