Dr WOODRUFF - Premier, I also want to, on behalf of the Greens, speak to the people who are watching today who are victims/survivors or their advocates and thank them and acknowledge the long road that they've travelled for us to be sitting here today and scrutinising your Government's response to the enormous body of work the commission of inquiry did. Thank you for making this available. It is a mammoth, a huge body of work. I want to go to the commission of inquiry's page 5 of the first report where they said:
Over our lifetime, many of us may find ourselves directly or indirectly contributing to the conditions that increase the risks or occurrence of child sexual abuse.
They go on to say:
Day to day actions that make us a cog in the broader machine that quietly tolerates abuse and sexualisation of children.
Premier, do you believe that you've overseen the removal of all such cogs in government institutions?
Mr ROCKLIFF - Thank you. You're referring to volume 1 -
Dr WOODRUFF - Executive summary, page 5.
Mr ROCKLIFF - Yes, I have the paragraph in front of me here. As I've previously stated, Dr Woodruff, any person that has harmed, allowed harm to a child or young person will be held to account and our Government will be doing all we can to ensure that there are no perpetrators in government institutions that can harm children.
The reason why we set up the commission of inquiry was to shine a light on the past failings. The commission of inquiry have done their thorough work and we're committed to the protection of children and young people and will do all we can to ensure that there are - as I think you've raised it - 'cogs' nowhere within the system of government. The checks and balances and the accountability mechanisms that we've put in place over the course of not just the last three years since the commission has been doing its very good work but over successive years, including working with vulnerable children checks and the like; each have added to ensure that, as much as possible, perpetrators are nowhere within our system of government.
As the commission themselves have indicated, there is a massive amount of cultural work necessary to ensure that every state servant understands their responsibilities. This has commenced with the Department of Health and will be extended right across government. On the day of the tabling of the commission of inquiry report we announced some $55 million of investment to support the implementation of the recommendations and $4.5 million of that - if my memory serves me correctly - to support that cultural change in and across government.
Dr WOODRUFF - Thank you. The commission of inquiry makes it clear in their report that there is a current, present risk to children in a number of institutions in Tasmania. Do you acknowledge that the report, your report titles and the website address - which is 'Keeping children safe' - do you recognise that the Government can't be keeping children safe if they're not actually currently safe? Aren't we talking about making children safe?
Mr ROCKLIFF - Ensuring, making. must be safe.
Dr WOODRUFF - But we're not keeping them safe, because there are many who are not safe now. Still.
Mr ROCKLIFF - It is every individual's responsibility to ensure that, when they see a young person or a child that is not safe or at risk of not being safe, then that is absolutely, utterly reported. All children have the right - a fundamental right - to be safe and secure and respected, irrespective of the government institution, whether that be a health facility, a youth justice facility or education facility. Also - can I say - all children and young people must be believed as well.
Prior to the commission of inquiry, throughout the commission of inquiry as evidenced by the recommendations or the actions that we've announced, 17 of those have been implemented that I announced in May 2022. Following the recommendations from the commission of inquiry we're committed to doing all we can to ensure the safety of our children and young people in our care.
Dr WOODRUFF - I agree that is absolutely the intention of yourself and people in the Government, but do you also recognise that although the state should be a model parent, it's currently not a model parent? Do you acknowledge that there are children right now who are not safe in Ashley Youth Detention Centre and in out-of-home care?
Mr ROCKLIFF - We have enormous responsibility as a Government and any government who essentially is - I will use your terminology - in the context of the parent, to ensure the safety of our children. I would absolutely want to guarantee that every child in our care is safe. The reason why we have commissioned the inquiry and, indeed, going through the recommendations - and I expect full implementation of the recommendations to not only make the commission of inquiry report come to effect but also above the recommendations - to ensure that we don't accept a level of certain safety for Tasmania, but that we are nation leading. If there is any evidence that any child is not safe in any institution then that needs to be reported and addressed.
Dr WOODRUFF - I suppose it was reported in the commission of inquiry's report. That is the point.
Mr ROCKLIFF - Yes.
Dr WOODRUFF - They made the statement that children are at risk now. How many children are at Ashley Youth Detention Centre and how many children are in out-of-home care?
Mr ROCKLIFF - Can I firstly address the matter you're referring to at the moment? You've asked the question, 'Are the detainees at Ashley safe?' I will have to refer to the Keeping Kids Safe plan. We've been making the changes that I've spoken about, ensuring that our children and young people are at the centre while the work towards the transition progresses. We need to better support our young people at Ashley.
We've provided investment of $5 million in the financial year of 2023-24 to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the children at the centre continues to be prioritised. I can detail a number of actions, including the review of all policies and procedures to ensure that they are contemporary and fit for purpose; the establishment of an incident review committee for compliance follow-up; there has been physical infrastructure improvements; working to ensure practices and procedures are therapeutic and trauma-informed; also reviewing the learning development framework to ensure all staff are trained to deliver a therapeutic model of care at the youth detention centre.
We have additional integrated security measures to achieve security and safety outcomes for children, young people and staff, and improvements - as I have referred to a number of times - in terms of therapeutic service models, including access to clinical services for children and young people at the centre.
Body-worn cameras have been introduced in a trial capacity at Ashley as of 30 November 2023 to support the safety and security of young people and staff. They will be activated by staff when responding to an incident and ensure an accurate audio and visual record is captured. An evaluation of the effectiveness and review of procedure will commence in six months. There has been a new personal searches policy, which was introduced in 2019, which we've spoken about a number of times since that time.
More specifically towards the end of your question, the numbers at Ashley, day to day fluctuations, as you'd expect. I am advised currently there are 12 on remand and 3 on detention, bringing a total of 15.
