Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin – Leader of the Greens) – Honourable Speaker, the Greens brought on this matter of public importance today because we are deeply concerned with what appears to be a disconnect between government ministers, in terms of the policies they are rolling out to protect children and young people in Tasmania, and members in the Chamber who were here during the process of the commission of inquiry and who observed the hearings. We understood the failures that had occurred with our state agencies, our institutions, our regulatory bodies.
We were there. I believe other members are in the Chamber who might have been there on the final days of the commission’s hearing when they made their final report. They will understand that the Premier, Jeremy Rockliff, made a heartfelt commitment following the words, stories, recommendations and findings of the commission of inquiry to make sure that going forward, government policies would be fully focused on keeping children and young people protected.
I believe the government has broadly followed through on a number of areas that the commission of inquiry made recommendations on, but what we are so concerned about is the devastating lack of urgency that has been displayed, notwithstanding the work that I know minister Jaensch is doing, on bringing to a close the Ashley Youth Detention Centre. There has been no urgency in bringing into place real, effective, therapeutic support, and programs and pathways for young people who are offenders to take them on a different path and to support them out of a path of crime.
We are seeing an increase in crime in some parts of Tasmania, which we have to say is a matter of record, being overblown by the government and being used, we believe, as a populist measure. Instead of sincerely responding to those communities with effective strategies for reducing crime in their community, it is being used, like Liberal governments have done many times, and Labor is not immune from this; they have also used this tactic to signal to the community that they are taking strong action to prevent crime, when actually they are failing to do what all the evidence shows is required to reduce crime.
They are failing to support the children who are victims in this in their own way, because of trauma and circumstances in their life which mean they are choosing to take part in these activities or being coerced or as part of group pressure into being involved in activities, when there is no doubt that children of the age of 11 are not consciously capable of making decisions about their actions. They obviously need support and there obviously need to be programs. We have these incredible parallel‑world conversations going on with the Minister for Children and Young People and the Police minister.
We have a Premier who is meant to be leading the ship, who promised Tasmanians he was a premier with heart. He promised us that he would fulfil not just the recommendations, but the spirit of the commission of inquiry, and that is what is missing here.
When Ms Rosol asked this morning whether the Premier would uphold the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, he did not give an answer. He did not say yes. That is the only answer he should have given. That is the only answer that the commissioners and the people who presented to the commission of inquiry, who wanted change and who wanted us to never go back to the way we have been, wanted – and he did not say it.
That is why the Greens are so concerned. We stand with communities, we stand with community organisations, the legal experts, the children and young people experts, the children’s commissioner – all the people in Tasmania and around the world who know that the tough-on-crime policies that are being rolled out in Tasmania at the moment will bring harm to children and will not make the community safer. That is the bottom line. We want to make the community safe, we want to look after children, and the Premier has to take charge.
Time expired.
