There have been 18.5 young people in Ashley Youth Detention Centre on average in 2025-26, up until the end of the March quarter, according to recent DECYP data. After the findings and recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry, it’s completely unacceptable the Liberals are allowing this to happen.
Earlier this year, the Greens raised concerns that the numbers of young people at Ashley were continuing to increase. DECYP’s data for the final quarter of last year showed there was on average 19 young people in Ashley Youth Detention Centre each day – the worst in 18 months.
At the time, the Liberals claimed their own quarterly data wasn’t representative, as the number of children in Ashley changes every day. They said the yearly average data would paint a better picture. But their recently updated statistics show this just isn’t true, with 18.5 young people on average in Ashley for 2025-26 as at the end of March.
That’s the highest yearly average of young people in Ashley in a decade. The year the Commission of Inquiry was announced, there were just 9.1 young people a day in Ashley Youth Detention Centre on average. Apart from a small dip last year, the number of young people in detention has just gotten worse since then.
The Commission of Inquiry found there was current risk of child abuse at Ashley. They recommended the Liberals should be decreasing the number of children detained there and closing the Centre as soon as possible. But Ashley is nowhere near closing, and the number of children there is not going down at all.
The more children at Ashley, the worse the conditions are – the greater the risk of harm is. That’s because for years, the Liberals have failed to recruit and train the number of staff needed to run the facility safely.
The Liberals’ “tough on crime” approach is just increasing the number of children at AYDC. It’s beyond time they focussed on preventative and diversionary justice for young people to decrease how many young people are sent to Ashley. They can’t keep failing our kids.
