The call to find alternative detention options for the 12 youth who remain at Ashley Detention Centre are growing, following a request to goverment from the children's commissioner to close the centre.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Tasmania's Commissioner for Children and Young People has called on the government to close the centre immediately, and send in a group of specialists with leadership skills and child safety expertise.
TasCOSS chief executive Adrienne Picone said Ms McLean's suggestion for a rapid response crisis team would assist skeleton crew staffing issues and the resulting problems for youth.
"These staff shortages mean the children and young people's right to health care, education and their right to access legal services are being denied and we echo the calls of the Commissioner to urgently establish and deploy a rapid response crisis team," Ms Picone said.
"Ideally Ashley would close immediately - it should not be beyond us to provide appropriate accommodation, rehabilitation and support for these 12 children and young people."
Ms Picone said raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 should also occur.
"In the medium-term, we must ensure no children experience detention, with all evidence demonstrating that a criminal justice response to children is inappropriate and harmful," she said.
"In the longer-term, we must fast track the establishment of alternatives to detention for children and young people by bringing forward the therapeutic facilities and models of care that are so overdue."
Families and Children Tasmania (FACT) Chair, Caroline Brown said they also encouraged the Tasmanian Government to invest in targeted intervention services for the families of the children and young people at AYDC, combined with comprehensive prevention and earlier intervention strategies.
"It's well established that the majority of children and young people in youth detention are involved with the out of home care system and are also often disconnected from their families," Ms Brown said.
"We also strongly support working with these families to find alternative solutions to detention, such as kinship care options, and FACT would be very happy to work collaboratively with Government to find solutions to these complex problems for the benefit of our children and young people."
Premier Jeremy Rockliff has said Ashley will not close until proper support and facilities are available.
Two new centres are planned, with plans for the future system and information about new facilities to be announced in coming weeks.
"If there were better alternatives to AYDC available now, we would be taking them," Mr Rockliff said.
"With respect to the new facilities, Noetic Group have been engaged to undertake a functional design brief for new facilities based on an analysis of Tasmanian data, consultation with Tasmanian stakeholders and review of best practice approaches from around the world."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.examiner.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @examineronline
- Follow us on Instagram: @examineronline
Follow us on Google News: The Examiner
