Rally Calls for Immediate Closure of Ashley Youth Detention Centre

Transcript of media conference with organisers of rally calling for closure of Ashley Youth Detention Centre, Parliament Lawns, Hobart, 27 August 2022.

Alysha

It’s been a really harrowing, an exhausting week, obviously on a on many levels. We’ve heard some horrific stories, none of which was surprising to me. But all of which are obviously still very distressing to me. So I’m exhausted but also very, very relieved that the truth is being exposed. I feel like we’ve just touched the tip of the iceberg this week. And a lot more is going to become public, you know, as it can be. But that process has begun and that’s a good thing.

Journalist – Grace Evans

And you’ve come out with a group of other victims survivors, but also allies. Tell me a little bit about what you’re calling for.

Alysha

We’re calling for the immediate closure of Ashley Youth Detention Centre, which has been echoed by calls from Amnesty, from UNICEF, from human rights lawyers across Australia and certainly the national Commissioner for Children. This week, we heard our own Commissioner for Children in Tasmania and the Tasmanian Ombudsman call for the closure of the centre I think it’s time to say enough is enough. We heard in Rachael Elyard’s closing address yesterday that the centre is torturing children. The centre is guilty of sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, all of which I’ve evidenced, other people have evidenced. We know it has occurred, we know it is occurring. And it’s time to just say, ‘Look, this is not okay. It is not safe. Get the kids out’.

Journalist – Grace Evans

The government says they don’t have an alternative right now. What do you make of that?

Alysha

I say that nothing justifies putting children at risk of abuse. We’re talking about breaches of international rights of the child at this stage. Nothing on earth, such as not having a suitable facility, makes that okay. We heard this week that there’s only one child on a detention sentence, one child has been sentenced to detention. The rest are on remand so they are in a detention centre We heard they’re in isolation for most of the day; that is classed as torture for a child. They’re not even sentenced to be there. So we have one detainee to house. That’s not a difficult task, as much as we were hearing that it is. We’re not saying create a perfect model right now have this amazing world-leading, world-class youth justice model, we get that’s not likely right now. But to safely house one child on a youth detention order. That’s doable. That’s very doable. That could be that could be organised very swiftly, if there’s a will.

Journalist – Grace Evans

Have you been disappointed by the actions of the current Premier so far?

Alysha

I have been disappointed by the actions or or lack of actions this week. Certainly, there’s been, I’ve been heartened by some of the Premier’s actions in the lead up to this week, and he’s made some really strong, heartening statements. But I think we’re at the point where we’re talking about torture of children. We need to see actions, words are not enough. We need to act, we need to remove the children and ensure their safety. And that’s, you know, until that happens nothing is going to be sufficient.

Journalist – Grace Evans

How important is it or how special is it to have people from the wider community (inaudible)? Can you tell us a little bit about how many people you have had reach out to you over the last week?

Alysha

I mean, to be honest, people reach out to me quite constantly with their own stories and experiences of harm and Ashley as staff and detainees or former detainees. It’s always heartbreaking to hear but it’s also really heartening because for a long time, especially, you know, there was a two year period before I ever spoke to the media where I was just escalating my concerns through the department, through the appropriate channels, and I was screaming into an abyss or that’s what it felt like. So it’s it’s less lonely for me personally to know that other people care and other people are going to you know, fight for for these children as well.

Journalist – Grace Evans

So tell me a little bit about your experience and interactions with Ashley.

Azra Beach

Personally, I haven’t actually had a direct experience with Ashley. While I was in state care, and as a youth, I was arrested quite a bit. And even back in the day, the police were saying, you know, ‘they’d love a nice little girl like you out at Ashley’, at least as a deterrent for me to sort of stay on the straight and narrow. Some of the stories I’ve heard come out have just been absolutely heartbreaking. This week is really just, I can’t even listen anymore. I can’t. I can’t sit here and let our Premier leave this centre open anymore. It’s government-sanctioned child abuse in my opinion.

Journalist – Grace Evans

You’ve got children of your own…does it make you feel emotional to think –

Azra Beach

Yeah. It’s heartbreaking to think that there are kids in that centre that are around my children’s ages. They don’t deserve to be there. They don’t deserve to be abused. I mean, it was bad enough, they had their freedom taken away. But to actually go into a centre where guards are allowing inmates to beat up other inmates. They’re sexually assaulting, you know, they’re actually assaulting children and the government is just like, ‘Yep, it’s all good. We’re just gonna let it roll. And we’re gonna shut it in 2024’. That’s not good enough.

Journalist – Grace Evans

I guess you’re calling for immediate action. How important is that?

Azra Beach

Really, really, really important. As a victim of child sexual abuse under state care, it needs to be shut now. It’s horrific. And it’s traumatising to think that this is something I thought that was only done to me. I didn’t realise how widespread it was, if that makes sense.

Journalist – Grace Evans

You’ve had the experience yourself. Just tell me a little bit about how this week has felt for you hearing other people’s stories.

Tiffany Skeggs

I think hearing that all of the stories that are coming forward are so contemporary is one of the most devastating, devastating things that any victim survivor can currently hear, that is trying to advocate in this space, and trying to make children safer, regardless of what has happened to any of us before, regardless of how much collateral damage there is along the way. They’re still causing more. They’re not doing their job. We need to keep children safe, and it’s not happening. And I personally feel devastated that I can’t keep them safe.

Journalist – Grace

We saw Frank who was one of the victim-survivors this week, he called for the immediate closure of actually, this is something you’re also calling for, tell me a little bit about what you think, why you think you need (inaudible)

Tiffany Skeggs

We heard all week – and we’ve heard across socials, from international experts, national experts – that this centre is torturing children. It’s in breach of our United Nations signing, we cannot allow our government to continue enabling and complying with the abuse of children. The centre needs to close. We have one child, only one on a youth detention order. There is no excuse not to find alternate accommodation for that child with someone who is suitably qualified to care for them and meet their needs.

Journalist – Grace Evans

I guess the discussions around Ashley over the last couple of years has been somewhat of the community cultivated, advocating for a fairer go. What does it feel like to you as a victim-survivor to be in a community and have a sense of people having your back?

Tiffany Skeggs

It’s overwhelming for the most part, to be really honest with you. I know that I felt like a complete alien when I first disclosed my abuse and I think now the sad reality is, is that we have accepted that there are a number of people that will never disclose their abuse but we know they’re out there and this week has showed just how much we need to humanise children to the public. They aren’t pawns for political gain, they are children. They deserve our love, our care, our respect. There is no excuse.

Sebastian Buscemi

I’m Sebastian Buscemi, principal solicitor at Odin Lawyers.

Journalist – Grace Evans

Tell me a little bit about why you’re lending your voice to this group today?

Sebastian Buscemi

I’ve been a bit of a proponent for the closure of Ashley since I came to Tasmania a few years ago. After the last week, what we’ve heard at these hearings, the message that everyone here is saying is, there’s no way that we can keep Ashley open. What we’re doing to these kids, what’s happening to these children in our name – in the name of all Tasmanians – is just unacceptable. We’ve heard evidence from experts about the conditions the children are facing in there, the failures under OPCAT and the UN rights of the child that that’s causing. We’ve heard that there are alternatives and that there’s no need for children to be in there. We are subjecting children to inhumane conditions, and there is absolutely no reason to be doing that.

Journalist – Grace

From your background and experience, would it be easy to find an alternative?

Sebastian Buscemi

From the experts … there’s one child actually under a detention order. He can be placed anywhere, presumably, in a one on one placement in all sorts of options. Having children there on remand, children shouldn’t be locked up on remand. That’s in and of itself hugely problematic and we shouldn’t really be needing a facility to do that. We should just be avoiding it altogether.

Journalist – Grace Evans

Are these sorts of causes the reasons that you got into your profession?

Sebastian Buscemi

Yeah. I think at the end of the day we’re talking about people here who are really vulnerable. And I think it’s important that people who have the opportunity to to advocate for them do.

Journalist – Grace Evans

(inaudible)

Sebastian Buscemi

I think the general response I’ve had from the people I’ve spoken to who’ve been in Ashley has been one of … quite mixed. I think there’s a general sense of relief that this is finally being spoken about. But I think for a lot of them knowing how long it’s gone on for and how long it’s continued; the Ashley clients I currently have from 10 plus years ago, and knowing that it’s still going on today has been quite upsetting for them to know that children are still subjected to what they experienced.