Media release – Sarah Lovell MLC, Shadow Minister for Children and Youth, 27 September 2023
Ashley alternative must be made a priority
Minister for Education, Children and Youth Roger Jaensch needs to state unequivocally when Ashley Youth Detention Centre will close and when a new facility will be built.
While Labor acknowledges that the government is committed to closing Ashley Youth Detention Centre as soon as possible, the Rockliff Government has been slow to act to protect our youth.
The Commissioners’ findings about the scale of the failures of the centre are absolutely shocking and a gross violation against Tasmanian children.
Rather than unveiling measures to address the systematic failures of the centre or announce an immediate date for the closure of Ashley, Minister Jaensch said a new justice centre would not be available for another two years, and that no design work and planning has been completed.
Instead, Premier Jeremy Rockliff announced yesterday that electronic access, additional CCTV cameras and the trial of body-work cameras would be put in place at the centre, doing little to improve resourcing and support for staff so that they can support youth safely and therapeutically.
This is not nearly close enough to deal with the gravity of the issues plaguing Ashley.
Premier Rockliff and Minister Jaensch must outline when work will start of the change management process recommended by the inquiry to address these issues and a timeline on when Ashley will be closed and youth moved to a more therapeutic model of rehabilitation.
Media release – Rebecca White MP, Tasmanian Labor Leader, 27 September 2023
Rockliff must commit to accountability for all
Yesterday, the Parliament stood as one to make a decisive break from the wrongs of the past. Today, we watched with dismay as the Premier reverted to the evasiveness and secrecy that has characterised the past 10 years.
Premier Rockliff’s failure in Parliament to detail how he will ensure absolute accountability for individuals whose actions were not able to be covered by the Commission of Inquiry was highly disappointing.
Today of all days, we should have heard straight answers to important questions. Instead, we saw the Liberals revert to a standard operating procedure of platitudes and avoidance.
One of the report’s most shocking themes was that in many cases, covering up the actions of perpetrators and those who failed to stop them took precedence over protecting our children – which should always be our highest priority.
The report outlines instances where the Commissioners could not make adverse comments or findings they otherwise would have because individuals used legal representation to argue adverse comments or findings against them could constitute a breach of the State Service Code of Conduct.
This means there was information uncovered by the Commission, but which is not in the final report that could further expose how the actions or failures of individuals contributed to the harm that was allowed to be inflicted upon Tasmanian children.
It also means there could be people working in our state service who simply should not be there.
Unfortunately, after 10 years in office, secrecy and a lack of transparency have become trademarks for this Liberal Government.
Today, it looks like nothing has changed, and nothing will change until this Government stops trying to protect themselves before they protect children.
If Jeremy Rockliff is serious about his commitment to “getting this right”, outlining how he will ensure accountability for those people who weren’t able to be held accountable by the Commission is a non-negotiable.
Media release – Josh Willie MLC, Shadow Minister for Education and Early Years, 27 September 2023
Rockliff Government must immediately review allegations of abuse held by DECYP
One of the most alarming findings of the Commission of Inquiry is that “there has still not been a comprehensive review of all the information relating to allegations of child sexual abuse held by what is now the Department for Education, Children and Young People”.
As a result, the Commissioners said they are “concerned that there may still be people working with children who are the subject of child sexual abuse allegations who have not been investigated”.
Protecting our children should be our highest priority and it is alarming there still has not been a comprehensive review of information held by the Department.
To make matters worse, Premier Jeremy Rockliff was asked this morning in Question Time if he would immediately commit to commencing this review and audit but refused to answer the question.
His refusal to commit to immediately commence this review has the potential to result in Tasmanian children being left in danger.
If we’ve learned anything over the last few days, it’s that inaction when it comes to child safety cannot be accepted. Premier Rockliff must commit to taking action from today.
Dean Winter MP, Leader of Opposition Business, 27 September 2023
Awful culture of secrecy continues
Parliament heard today that $1.6 million of taxpayers’ money was spent on legal fees for 29 public servants as part of the committee of inquiry process.
We need to know how many were SES level and did they include any heads of agencies. The Premier needs to come clean on this.
Protecting the reputation of public servants is not a priority but protecting children is. A change of culture won’t occur under this government because it’s in their DNA not to be open, honest and transparent.
We had a historic day yesterday but today was groundhog-day.
No answers to critical questions and the usual waffling. It’s frankly disgraceful and not good enough.
Media release – Dr Rosalie Woodruff MP, Greens Leader, 27 September 2023
Serious Ongoing Issues at Ashley Demand Recognition and Response
The failure of the State Government – in particular the Minister for Children and Young People – to recognise and urgently respond to ongoing human rights abuses at Ashley Youth Detention Centre is appalling and must be immediately rectified.
The Commission of Inquiry Report unequivocally states the use of isolation practices at Ashley Youth Detention Centre is a violation of the human rights of children and young people. It highlights how departmental staff accepted this fact as early as 2016, and documents how the concerns raised in subsequent years by Children’s Commissioners, the Custodial Inspector, an independent investigation, and a United Nations committee have been ignored by the government.
About ‘restrictive practices’ the Commission says:
“These practices are isolation by another name, are human rights abuses, and have the same impact as other isolation practices on children’s health and wellbeing”.
Whatever words the Government chooses to use for isolation, the experience for children at Ashley is the same. And that experience is regular isolation – a clear breach of their human rights.
No wonder the Commission says it still has “grave concerns for the safety and wellbeing of detainees” and about the “live and current risk” at Ashley. The Commission also noted the government’s recent failure to respond to specific observations made by Commissioner for Children and Young People Leanne McLean about isolation practices at Ashley.
The government’s failure to properly respond to these serious issues is a reflection of the continued culture of secrecy and denial related to Ashley. This culture has underpinned the long-term issues at the Centre, and led to devastating harm to hundreds of children.
We saw this culture in action in real-time when questioning the Minister for Children in Parliament. Rather than accepting the Commission’s findings of ongoing human rights abuses at AYDC, Roger Jaensch resorted to his modus operandi – obfuscation, denial, and making misleading statements.
After telling the House that Ashley will likely not close for “a couple of years”, the Minister tried to pretend this was in line with what the Commission has called for. In case there was any doubt about the Commission’s demands for urgency on the facility’s closure, they specifically stated they were “disappointed there are some indications the Tasmanian Government is reconsidering its previous announcement to close the Centre by 2024”.
Instead of ignoring the concerns of the Commission of Inquiry, the United Nations Committee on Torture, and the Commissioner for Children and Young People, we need to hear the Government and especially this Minister make a statement that shows they understand the serious and unacceptable harms occurring at Ashley right now.
Further, we again call on the Minister to outline a concrete timeline for Ashley’s closure that is in line with the expectations of the Commission of Inquiry.
Media release – David O’Byrne MP, Member for Franklin, 28 September 2023
Ashley closure timeline blow-out ‘completely unacceptable’
The closure of Ashley Youth Detention Centre has blown out to at least ‘mid 2026’ while the Government refuses to commit to alternative interim models of care.
Franklin MP David O’Byrne said the Government’s plan to only close Ashley once a new youth justice facility is constructed is a flawed model that ignores interim solutions and alternative models of care.
“The Commission of Inquiry, victim-survivors, child safety advocates and indeed the entire state is calling for the immediate closure of Ashley,” said Mr O’Byrne.
“But today the Government revealed they are not considering options that would close the facility sooner, instead announcing delays and that the facility won’t close until at least mid-2026.
“This government announced the new youth justice facility over two years ago, but in all that time, they’ve only just managed to pick a preferred site this week. It’s clear that this project will be beset with long delays, which means Ashley could stay open for up to 3-5 years at least.
“The findings in the Commission’s report against Ashley were horrific. Nobody, except this government, think that delaying its closure for 3-5 years is acceptable.
“Has this government not listened to the Commission and victim survivors about the atrocities that occurred at Ashley? How could they possibly think that keeping the facility open for several more years is the right thing to do?
“Minister Jaensch and his government have options and alternatives that would facilitate Ashley being closed as soon as possible. But they refuse to consider them, which is putting the safety and wellbeing of Tasmanian children and youth at risk.”
