The number of young people detained in Ashley Youth Detention Centre has continued to increase and is approaching the decade-high level recorded two years ago, according to newly published data from the Department for Education, Children and Young People.
DECYP’s latest update shows that in the final quarter of 2025 there was on average 19 young people in Ashley each day. That is a distressingly high number. When the Liberals announced they would close Ashley five years ago, there were nine children at the Centre daily.
The Rockliff Government keeps saying they’re reducing the number of young people at Ashley, but this data shows that’s just not true. In fact, their polices are continuing to make things worse.
The number of children at AYDC is 17% higher than the same time the previous year. It’s also at its highest level since there were 21 children in the Centre daily in the June 2024 quarter. That was a situation former Minister Jaensch told Parliament was an “anomaly” and was the only time in the past decade the Department has reported a figure exceeding what we are seeing in their most recent data.
The Liberals’ ‘tough on crime’ approach is failing. It isn’t reducing crime – all it’s doing is seeing more young people locked up.
Given the Commission of Inquiry found there was a current risk of child abuse in Ashley, the Liberals should have been decreasing the number of children detained there – and closing the Centre as soon possible. But the number of children at the Centre is increasing, and work to close the facility has been repeatedly kicked down the road and mismanaged. It’s disgraceful.
We know that the more young people there are at Ashley, the worse conditions become for them – and the greater the risks of harm. That’s because the government has for years failed to recruit and train the number of staff needed to run the facility safely under normal circumstances, let alone with such high numbers at the Centre.
The Liberals need to ditch their “tough on crime” crap and focus on reducing the number of young people locked up. They must keep the children in their care safe, and close Ashley Youth Detention Centre urgently.
