❓ The Minister for Child Protection provides an update on the Target 120 program and the new Target 120 Plus initiative, which aims to support young people who have been detained in Banksia Hill Detention Centre and prevent re-offending.
AnsweredQoN 469Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
TARGET
120 PLUS
469. Ms D.G. D'ANNA to the Minister for Child
Protection:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's efforts to steer young people away from the criminal
justice system and keep the community safe, demonstrated by the success of the
groundbreaking Target 120 program. Can the minister
update the house on the support that will be provided to young people who are
in or who have been detained in Banksia Hill Detention Centre to ensure
that they also have the opportunity to break the cycle of offending and at the
same time make our community safer?
120 PLUS
469. Ms D.G. D'ANNA to the Minister for Child
Protection:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's efforts to steer young people away from the criminal
justice system and keep the community safe, demonstrated by the success of the
groundbreaking Target 120 program. Can the minister
update the house on the support that will be provided to young people who are
in or who have been detained in Banksia Hill Detention Centre to ensure
that they also have the opportunity to break the cycle of offending and at the
same time make our community safer?
AnswerView source ↗
I
am very pleased to talk about this latest announcement that we announced
together in Broome, and I would like to particularly acknowledge the
member for Kimberley. She has an incredibly difficult job with not only the
geographic reach of her seat, but also the complexity of the number of issues
that she faces. She does it with determination and skill and capacity on many
fronts, so thank you.
I know that the member understands
that tackling youth offending is quite a complex issue that requires work. It
requires looking at the evidence of what are effective outcomes when dealing
with difficult behaviour. That is why when we took our policy of Target 120 to
the 2017 election, we had done the work. I acknowledge my colleagues, the now
Minister for Police, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and others who worked
on that policy. We took to the 2017 election the policy that we would do the
Target 120 program. We would work with 120 families approximately a year as an
early intervention youth justice approach. When we got to government, we set
about doing more work on that policy to look at what it would look like with
the resources of government. We funded that policy and we have set about
implementing that policy.
I was very pleased in the last
budget to report that as a result of the successful implementation of that
policy and good outcomes in Target 120, we
have been able to expand it. Target 120 will be in 20 sites around the state.
We are now looking at expanding not
only the locations, but also the target audience or the target clientele.
Target 120 Plus in Broome will work
with young people, again, probably between the ages of 10 and 14. Whereas
Target 120 works with young people who have had numerous interactions
with the justice system but have not been in detention, Target 120 Plus will
start to work with young people who have been in detention, but it is the same
model. It will work with young people and their family to help them navigate
existing services and foster good cooperation between government agencies and
community services to understand what is going on in that young person's
life that has led them to offend. It might be about needing to resolve mental
health issues of their own or within their family, resolve drug and alcohol
issues or provide financial counselling. Whatever the issues are, we will start
to look at how we can address in a positive way the issues that have led to
offending.
We
know from Target 120 that the results are very, very good. I have reported
previously in this Parliament that about half those young people who are
involved in Target 120 have not offended while being involved in the program.
It really is quite remarkable. We have also had them engaged in positive or
organised leisure activities—for instance, sport. They have been more
engaged with school, and that is really what we want. We want to understand what has led to the offending and engage not only
in a positive way, but also with their family. The multiplier effect of
Target 120 has been significant because we are dealing with not only those
young people, but also their family, and many of them have numerous siblings
who have been able to have issues addressed through the program.
Target 120 Plus will work with 10
young people at any time who have now been in Banksia to see how the model
works and to see whether we can start to work constructively with those young
people and their families to get a change in behaviour.
I ask the chamber to think about
what the opposition has proposed in relation to youth justice issues that they
have raised in this place. I ask the chamber to think about what the
opposition, when it was in government, did to constructively deal with the
underlying causes of youth justice issues. Think of one thing. Think of
something. If opposition members can say anything to me, either in the chamber
or afterwards, I would be really interested to hear it. I cannot think of one
thing that the previous government did constructively. In fact, across my
portfolio, I struggle. I have asked my staff to look to do numerous searches on
innovations that the previous government made in child protection—cannot
find anything. I am happy to hear what the opposition has done, but certainly
in youth justice I hear no constructive suggestions and I can think of nothing
that it did while it was in government. This government, on the other hand, is
looking at evidence-based solutions to work constructively to turn young lives
around.
am very pleased to talk about this latest announcement that we announced
together in Broome, and I would like to particularly acknowledge the
member for Kimberley. She has an incredibly difficult job with not only the
geographic reach of her seat, but also the complexity of the number of issues
that she faces. She does it with determination and skill and capacity on many
fronts, so thank you.
I know that the member understands
that tackling youth offending is quite a complex issue that requires work. It
requires looking at the evidence of what are effective outcomes when dealing
with difficult behaviour. That is why when we took our policy of Target 120 to
the 2017 election, we had done the work. I acknowledge my colleagues, the now
Minister for Police, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and others who worked
on that policy. We took to the 2017 election the policy that we would do the
Target 120 program. We would work with 120 families approximately a year as an
early intervention youth justice approach. When we got to government, we set
about doing more work on that policy to look at what it would look like with
the resources of government. We funded that policy and we have set about
implementing that policy.
I was very pleased in the last
budget to report that as a result of the successful implementation of that
policy and good outcomes in Target 120, we
have been able to expand it. Target 120 will be in 20 sites around the state.
We are now looking at expanding not
only the locations, but also the target audience or the target clientele.
Target 120 Plus in Broome will work
with young people, again, probably between the ages of 10 and 14. Whereas
Target 120 works with young people who have had numerous interactions
with the justice system but have not been in detention, Target 120 Plus will
start to work with young people who have been in detention, but it is the same
model. It will work with young people and their family to help them navigate
existing services and foster good cooperation between government agencies and
community services to understand what is going on in that young person's
life that has led them to offend. It might be about needing to resolve mental
health issues of their own or within their family, resolve drug and alcohol
issues or provide financial counselling. Whatever the issues are, we will start
to look at how we can address in a positive way the issues that have led to
offending.
We
know from Target 120 that the results are very, very good. I have reported
previously in this Parliament that about half those young people who are
involved in Target 120 have not offended while being involved in the program.
It really is quite remarkable. We have also had them engaged in positive or
organised leisure activities—for instance, sport. They have been more
engaged with school, and that is really what we want. We want to understand what has led to the offending and engage not only
in a positive way, but also with their family. The multiplier effect of
Target 120 has been significant because we are dealing with not only those
young people, but also their family, and many of them have numerous siblings
who have been able to have issues addressed through the program.
Target 120 Plus will work with 10
young people at any time who have now been in Banksia to see how the model
works and to see whether we can start to work constructively with those young
people and their families to get a change in behaviour.
I ask the chamber to think about
what the opposition has proposed in relation to youth justice issues that they
have raised in this place. I ask the chamber to think about what the
opposition, when it was in government, did to constructively deal with the
underlying causes of youth justice issues. Think of one thing. Think of
something. If opposition members can say anything to me, either in the chamber
or afterwards, I would be really interested to hear it. I cannot think of one
thing that the previous government did constructively. In fact, across my
portfolio, I struggle. I have asked my staff to look to do numerous searches on
innovations that the previous government made in child protection—cannot
find anything. I am happy to hear what the opposition has done, but certainly
in youth justice I hear no constructive suggestions and I can think of nothing
that it did while it was in government. This government, on the other hand, is
looking at evidence-based solutions to work constructively to turn young lives
around.
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