Tamanian Children's Commissioner says urgent intervention is needed at Ashley Youth Detention Centre

The Commission of Inquiry into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in Tasmania recently heard seven days of damning testimony including horrific physical and sexual abuse at the facility and mismanagement.

It heard evidence that staffing levels were at an all-time low, which in turn impacted the mental health of detainees and their time spent in isolation.

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Children's Commissioner Leanne McLean on Sunday called for the state government to urgently establish a rapid response crisis team on the ground at the centre, made up for members with specialist leadership skills and child safe practitioner expertise.

She said the team benefit both the staff and detainees at Ashley and should remain on-site before the establishment of a new youth detention model.

"Staff there are down to a skeleton crew," Ms McLean said.

"People are working constant double shifts - they're absolutely exhausted.

"In addition to that, much of the leadership is now also on leave."

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She said the detention facility was in crisis and the government needed to respond accordingly.

"I have simply not seen a level of urgency to change the situation for these children at Ashley that is commensurate with the decline in their wellbeing," she said.

Ms McLean said there were 12 detainees at the centre at present, 11 of which were on remand.

The detainees are aged between 11 and 17 years old.

"Tasmania has no remand accommodation for children and young people, we have no supported bail accommodation for children and young people," Ms McLean said.

"We have no residential mental health facility for children and young people, we have no residential drug and alcohol treatment facility for children and young people.

"We have known this about our system for a very, very long time and we have not I fixed it."

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Government minister Michael Ferguson said the government would always consider good ideas from the experts, but it had already transformed the way Ashley operated.

"The Ashley of today is not the Ashley of five, 10 and certainly not 20 years ago," he said.

"We've been absolutely rock solid in the need for changing the way children are detained in Ashley and the way that they are cared for.

"Progressively, we are now already moving to a much more therapeutic model."

Labor's youth spokeswoman Sarah Lovell said the government should be doing everything it could to fast-track the centre's closure.

"To give the Tasmanian community confidence that the horrors revealed in recent hearings are not continuing to this day, Premier Rockliff needs to release a plan for the closure of Ashley and the safe transition of young people in custody," she said.

Some critics of the Ashley Youth Detention Centre have called for its immediate closure in light of the shocking claims aired at Commission of Inquiry hearings.

Ms McLean warned against moves towards a snap closure as it would then require utilisation of Tasmanian Prison Service resources.

"As a last resort, that could include transitioning children to Risdon," Ms McLean said.

"That would be an absolutely terrible outcome for those children, it would be a terrible outcome for all everybody - our community, our society, but most of all those children."

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