Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Lots of people in my electorate of Curtin are concerned about youth justice, particularly in Western Australia. In the years since I started this job, I've met with multiple advocates to discuss a fairer, less harmful approach to youth justice.

Banksia Hill is the only detention centre in WA for offenders aged 10 to 17. This includes those convicted of crimes but also kids who are on remand and waiting for trial. Eighty per cent of the kids in Banksia Hill are Indigenous, meaning that Indigenous kids are overrepresented by more than 25 times. On 8 June, a report by the WA Inspector of Custodial Services, Eamon Ryan, was released publicly. The report was damning in its assessment of Banksia Hill. Ryan said that every element of the centre is failing with 'young people, staff and a physical environment in acute crisis'. The report said that kids are being locked in cells for excessive time and that this causes a self-perpetuating cycle at the centre, with the isolation increasing anxieties, anger and frustration.

Banksia Hill is filled with our most vulnerable children. More than half of the children incarcerated are wards of the state. One university study showed that nine in 10 have a cognitive impairment or a neurodisability, and one in three have fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. These kids do not have the neurological development to have the capacity to form criminal intent. Studies show that detention fails to rehabilitate or support children to reintegrate into the community and that early contact with the youth legal system increases the likelihood of poor future justice outcomes, interruption to education, trauma and mental illness.

What can the federal government do? The government could provide Medicare support to Aboriginal health services to provide culturally safe developmental assessments in detention centres to determine the extent of neurodisability so that a therapeutic program can be designed for each child. This would be far preferable to health care and mental health care being provided by the Department of Justice. The government could also raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 at a national level and encourage all states to follow suit. And the government could re-fund the 75 Aboriginal community controlled child and family services that were defunded in 2015, despite seeing results.

I was pleased to see announcements this morning from WA's new Premier, Mr Roger Cook, that he'll work with stakeholders, in particular the Aboriginal community, to deliver improved welfare, health and rehabilitation services. However, the task is huge, and we need to act swiftly. I urge the federal government to work with the WA state government to provide some hope for kids in detention.