❓ A parliamentary question regarding Banksia Hill Detention Centre, focusing on detainee management, staffing safety, and the impact of closing Rangeview Juvenile Remand Centre. The Minister's response is defensive and deflects blame.
AnsweredQoN 913Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
BANKSIA
HILL DETENTION CENTRE — DETAINEE MANAGEMENT
913. Mr P. PAPALIA to the
Minister for Corrective Services:
I refer the minister to his government's poor
decision to shut the Rangeview Juvenile Remand Centre in 2012 and cram all
juvenile detainees into Banksia Hill compromising juvenile detention, which has
led to the 2013 riot and a string of recent serious incidents.
(1) On how many occasions has the special operations group
been deployed to Banksia Hill this year?
(2) Is it not
true that a 10-year-old child was held hostage during the incident and needed
to be rescued by a youth custodial officer?
(3) When will
the minister accept that closing one of only two facilities was a bad decision,
and take action to fix this mess?
HILL DETENTION CENTRE — DETAINEE MANAGEMENT
913. Mr P. PAPALIA to the
Minister for Corrective Services:
I refer the minister to his government's poor
decision to shut the Rangeview Juvenile Remand Centre in 2012 and cram all
juvenile detainees into Banksia Hill compromising juvenile detention, which has
led to the 2013 riot and a string of recent serious incidents.
(1) On how many occasions has the special operations group
been deployed to Banksia Hill this year?
(2) Is it not
true that a 10-year-old child was held hostage during the incident and needed
to be rescued by a youth custodial officer?
(3) When will
the minister accept that closing one of only two facilities was a bad decision,
and take action to fix this mess?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(3)
What a great opportunity to set the record straight because the Labor Party
just does not get juvenile justice at all. When the Labor Party lost
government, member for Warnbro, there were 174 juveniles in Banksia Hill alone.
Mr P. Papalia : Are
you sure about that?
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
Absolutely. The question on notice that I just signed had today's date
on it, not the date of the August election. He cannot even get members in the
upper house to ask the right questions. There were 174 juveniles there at the
time of the election, give or take one or two. Today there are about 130, both
sentenced and on-remand juveniles, so we have significantly fewer juveniles in
detention under our government than there were under the Labor government, even
though the population has increased. Even though the adult prison population
has increased, what we have done with juvenile detention has bucked the trend
because we have invested money in trying to reform the kids. We have looked at
the recidivism rate of juveniles in the last two years, and it has decreased
from around 80 to around 50 per cent. A lot fewer kids are going back to jail
than we saw when members opposite were in government. I am happy to talk about
this all day long because I am exceptionally proud of what is happening. I will
tell the member for Warnbro what else he should do every now and then. If he
thinks there is an issue out at Banksia, he should go out there and do some
ground truthing. He knows the term. I have been out to Banksia Hill twice in
the last two weeks —
Mr P. Papalia :
Why?
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
Because I heard that some of the youth justice workers and youth custodial
workers were not feeling safe. I am happy to walk around there any time with 50
kids on a football field not being escorted —
Mr D.J. Kelly interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for Bassendean, I call you to
order for the second time.
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
The member for Bassendean was not there two weeks ago. He was not there last
week when I took the Attorney General and Minister for Corrections, Dr Goodwin
from Tasmania, to Banksia Hill with about five minutes' notice,
unescorted other than by one staff member.
Mr D.J. Kelly interjected.
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
That is because the member for Bassendean cannot be trusted.
The SPEAKER : Order! You were asked three questions:
whether Rangeview was shut in 2012; how many times special ops went in; and
about a 10-year-old child held and whether the shutting of Rangeview was a bad
decision, so answer those please.
Mr J.M. FRANCIS : I
can only take it that if members opposite win the next election in March, they
will re-open Rangeview—anything to rip up a private contract in line
with the little red doctrine. I am guessing they would separate remand from
sentence again. Is that their policy? They go on about it time and time again.
If that is the opposition's policy, I will add another $60 million to
the Labor Party's election commitments, because that is what it would
cost to build a standalone remand facility for a handful of juveniles in
Western Australia—a complete and utter waste of money. From time to
time, the SOG goes in there. Let me tell members opposite why. Unlike the
member for Warnbro and his union mates, I refuse to allow youth custodial
officers to walk around with batons and pepper spray. I do not want to see what
happened in the Northern Territory happen in Western Australia, and it has not
happened here simply because I have had the guts to stand up to the Community
and Public Sector Union, which the member for Warnbro would never have done. He
would have YCOs running around with all those things all the time. Does he know
what? Some of them are on leave because they do not feel safe to go to work.
Perhaps they are in the wrong job if they do not feel safe walking around that
place.
I am more than happy to walk around Banksia Hill unescorted
by youth custodial officers by my side and without carrying a duress button; it
is a perfectly safe place. Having said that, a small number of kids are very
difficult to manage.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : That
is enough!
Mr J.M. FRANCIS : I
accept that, but the bottom line of what we have done in youth justice is far
more successful that what the opposition ever did.
What a great opportunity to set the record straight because the Labor Party
just does not get juvenile justice at all. When the Labor Party lost
government, member for Warnbro, there were 174 juveniles in Banksia Hill alone.
Mr P. Papalia : Are
you sure about that?
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
Absolutely. The question on notice that I just signed had today's date
on it, not the date of the August election. He cannot even get members in the
upper house to ask the right questions. There were 174 juveniles there at the
time of the election, give or take one or two. Today there are about 130, both
sentenced and on-remand juveniles, so we have significantly fewer juveniles in
detention under our government than there were under the Labor government, even
though the population has increased. Even though the adult prison population
has increased, what we have done with juvenile detention has bucked the trend
because we have invested money in trying to reform the kids. We have looked at
the recidivism rate of juveniles in the last two years, and it has decreased
from around 80 to around 50 per cent. A lot fewer kids are going back to jail
than we saw when members opposite were in government. I am happy to talk about
this all day long because I am exceptionally proud of what is happening. I will
tell the member for Warnbro what else he should do every now and then. If he
thinks there is an issue out at Banksia, he should go out there and do some
ground truthing. He knows the term. I have been out to Banksia Hill twice in
the last two weeks —
Mr P. Papalia :
Why?
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
Because I heard that some of the youth justice workers and youth custodial
workers were not feeling safe. I am happy to walk around there any time with 50
kids on a football field not being escorted —
Mr D.J. Kelly interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for Bassendean, I call you to
order for the second time.
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
The member for Bassendean was not there two weeks ago. He was not there last
week when I took the Attorney General and Minister for Corrections, Dr Goodwin
from Tasmania, to Banksia Hill with about five minutes' notice,
unescorted other than by one staff member.
Mr D.J. Kelly interjected.
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
That is because the member for Bassendean cannot be trusted.
The SPEAKER : Order! You were asked three questions:
whether Rangeview was shut in 2012; how many times special ops went in; and
about a 10-year-old child held and whether the shutting of Rangeview was a bad
decision, so answer those please.
Mr J.M. FRANCIS : I
can only take it that if members opposite win the next election in March, they
will re-open Rangeview—anything to rip up a private contract in line
with the little red doctrine. I am guessing they would separate remand from
sentence again. Is that their policy? They go on about it time and time again.
If that is the opposition's policy, I will add another $60 million to
the Labor Party's election commitments, because that is what it would
cost to build a standalone remand facility for a handful of juveniles in
Western Australia—a complete and utter waste of money. From time to
time, the SOG goes in there. Let me tell members opposite why. Unlike the
member for Warnbro and his union mates, I refuse to allow youth custodial
officers to walk around with batons and pepper spray. I do not want to see what
happened in the Northern Territory happen in Western Australia, and it has not
happened here simply because I have had the guts to stand up to the Community
and Public Sector Union, which the member for Warnbro would never have done. He
would have YCOs running around with all those things all the time. Does he know
what? Some of them are on leave because they do not feel safe to go to work.
Perhaps they are in the wrong job if they do not feel safe walking around that
place.
I am more than happy to walk around Banksia Hill unescorted
by youth custodial officers by my side and without carrying a duress button; it
is a perfectly safe place. Having said that, a small number of kids are very
difficult to manage.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : That
is enough!
Mr J.M. FRANCIS : I
accept that, but the bottom line of what we have done in youth justice is far
more successful that what the opposition ever did.
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