Ms ROSOL question to the PREMIER, Mr ROCKLIFF
Evidence of your government’s warped priorities is everywhere. There is no starker example than what we heard last week at the parliamentary committee looking at the commission of inquiry response. In devastating detail, a corrections worker shared his grave concerns about the practice of keeping children in adult watch houses. He says 400 children a year go through these adult facilities. He described children locked in these tiny spaces while adult detainees were screaming, yelling, abusing, and coming off drugs. Referencing a national media story about a teenage girl held for three days in a Northern Territory watchhouse, he said this happens ‘weekly’ in Tasmania. As if this situation –
The SPEAKER – Before you recommence your question, I will allow you to start it again. Just reminding members, when you are on committee, it is the obligation of the member to ensure that the only thing that you repeat is matters that were given in public evidence and not matters that are subject to the confidentiality of committees. More broadly, we will be writing to all of you soon about committees and the way in which committees are being conducted and spoken about. I will ask the member to recommence her question and just ask her to be aware. As Speaker, I was not a member of the committee. I have no knowledge as to what the member has knowledge of, so you do need to be very careful yourself that you are not breaching the Standing Orders.
Ms ROSOL – Premier, evidence of your government’s warped priorities is everywhere. There is no starker example than what we heard last week at the parliamentary committee looking at the commission of inquiry response. In devastating detail, a corrections worker shared his grave concerns about the practice of keeping children in adult watchhouses. He says 400 children a year go through these adult facilities. He described children locked in this tiny space while adult detainees were screaming, yelling, abusing, and coming off drugs. Referencing a national media story about a teenage girl held for three days in a Northern Territory watchhouse, he said this happens ‘weekly’ in Tasmania. As if this situation is not appalling enough, workers have not had the training they need to assist and support these children. That is despite repeated requests from the United Workers Union. Premier, this is happening on your watch. What are you going to do immediately to fix it?
ANSWER
Honourable Speaker, I thank the member for the question and acknowledge the very serious nature in which you have detailed the lived experience of a person that provided evidence to a committee. We are developing a youth justice system that achieves better outcomes for young people. We are investing significantly in the commission of inquiry implementation recommendations and will continue to do so. This includes implementing a range of early intervention, prevention and diversion options and supporting children and young people who are on bail. The 2024-25 state budget provided a $15.85-million investment over four years in line with the commission of inquiry recommendations and our Youth Justice Blueprint to focus on early intervention and diversionary services that target the root causes of youth offending, divert young people out of the youth justice system, and provide support to young people on bail.
As we progress with this work, our government has taken a number of proactive steps to keep young people safe in watchhouses in line with the recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry. These include acquiring body-worn cameras for staff engaged with young people; implementing body scanners across Tasmania Prison Services (TPS) facilities; the Australian Childhood Foundation developing and delivering specific training for Tasmanian correctional officers on trauma‑informed engagement with young people in custodial settings; senior staff visits to watchhouse facilities to enable staff to ask questions and receive guidance on managing young people; and the review and amendment of key directors’ standing orders to comply with the Child and Youth Safe Organisations Act.
The detention of young people in watchhouses, which you alluded to in your question, is not a Tasmanian-specific issue. All jurisdictions across the country use watchhouse facilities for adults and young people for transitional periods during the justice processes. I am advised that under no circumstances is a young person placed in a cell with an adult. They are managed separately to adult detainees with no physical contact. I am also advised that the Tasmania Prison Service has specific policies that apply to managing young people consistent with the Youth Justice Act. However, I take your question very seriously. We need to do better and we are doing better when it comes to the range of recommendations we are implementing as a result of the commission of inquiry, including significant investment –
The SPEAKER – The Premier’s time for answering the question has expired.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
Ms ROSOL – A supplementary question, Speaker?
The SPEAKER – I will hear the supplementary question.
Ms ROSOL – I thank the Premier for his answer. A lot of what he referred to was broad responses to the commission of inquiry. This is a specific situation that the evidence for came out last week, and we are asking what immediate action will be taken in response to that evidence.
Mr ABETZ – On a point of order, Speaker, Standing Order 141 says no reference should be made to proceedings of a committee until the reports are received from that committee ‑ I raise that to your attention.
The SPEAKER – That was the point that I made when I reset the question, and as long as the member is only commenting on evidence that has been given publicly and therefore exists in the public domain, then it is okay, but they cannot reflect on any proceedings or deliberations of the committee outside of that.
I caution members. With the extension of committees in this parliament, there are a lot of members who were not on committees when they used to exist. I think there is a misunderstanding in some way and that each committee is being treated like a scrutiny committee in the same way that Estimates is done or GBEs is done.
Select committees are quite different. The rules are different; the obligations and requirements are different. That is some information that we will be sharing with committees and providing some training and advice to ensure that we are all following the rules appropriately, because these committees are about finding information to inform advice for the committee that is then given to the House.
We do need to be very conscious of the difference between a select committee and a scrutiny committee. Having said that, minister, the reference that I gave the member reflects the fact that individual members have to be sure that when they are speaking they are only speaking about public evidence. As long as Ms Rosol has done that, then she is within the framework and certainly within the obligations of 141.
The original question was around immediate action. The Premier is detailing action that is taking place, so technically that is an answer to that question. If the Premier has something to add, I will allow the supplementary, but otherwise I think technically he has actually answered the original question. Premier, it is in your hands whether you wish to provide additional information.
Mr ROCKLIFF – I will just make some final comments, because I would not want to be accused of dismissing such a serious question. I will take what you have said in the question and the information at face value. The committee will do good work in a bipartisan way to ensure that on the matters that you have raised, there will be outcomes and recommendations.
I can say that, in terms of immediate actions, when matters of such nature are presented, then it is obviously concerning to the government and the minister responsible to see what actions could be done immediately to address a number of those concerns. I do not have that at hand now. I have detailed areas more broadly in terms of the reforms we are making, but I look forward to the outcome of the committee’s work.
