Kurlana Tapa Youth Justice Centre

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (14:44): My question is to the Minister for Human Services. Will the government fund additional staff at Kurlana Tapa Youth Justice Centre in the state budget? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TEAGUE: Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement Director Amanda Lambden said on 12 May that, and I quote, 'basic human rights, legal rights of the child are being breached' due to staff shortages at Kurlana Tapa Youth Justice Centre.

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services) (14:45): I do thank the member for Heysen for the question. We have had conversations about youth justice and both of us are entirely committed to making sure that we do everything we can to ensure that young people who find themselves in the youth justice trajectory get the best possible support they can.

It is fair to say that staffing at Kurlana Tapa has been a challenge for some years now. We know that it is in a very tight and competitive labour market where the types of people that we really need working in Kurlana Tapa are also much sought after to work in a range of other environments like schools, child protection, and a whole other set of social services sectors, and those skills are much sought after and don't just happen overnight. They take time to develop, and it is also not just the qualification; it is actually a whole range of wraparound experiences that support that development, and also there is a deal of investment needed to retain staff.

What we have been facing over the last 15 months is an extremely tight labour market when it comes to this type of worker that we are trying to recruit, and there were certainly, and still are, some challenges. It is quite a vulnerable and susceptible cohort in an institutional environment where young people—with quite a high number of Aboriginal young people as well—are at risk in terms of illnesses. We need to make sure workers who have had or are experiencing COVID or flu are not working. That was a significant problem last year. It is still a bit of a problem now, but not quite so much.

There have been challenges and some of those have been talked about in the public realm, as you say, in regard to not just recruitment but retention of staff in what is a challenging role. It is also a very rewarding role to change a young person's life. Addressing it has been a priority and there have been a number of strategies that I have put into place in cooperation and consultation with the youth justice directors and management at Kurlana Tapa. That includes rolling recruitment. We have been having monthly information sessions for youth workers—these are all new initiatives—which provides an opportunity more regularly for youth workers to find out what it means to work in Kurlana Tapa and what that role could be going forward.

We have been also targeting recruitment of Aboriginal workers to ensure that young people within Kurlana Tapa can maintain cultural connection and cultural inclusion. We have been doing intakes every six weeks as well with new staff; that is more frequent than previously. Also, we are providing additional workplace supports in order to improve retention of workers. We have also strengthened our relationship with the PSA, and we have met more frequently with the PSA, and we are considering and supporting more permanency of roles within Kurlana Tapa.

I think all of those things have seen between 40 and 50 new workers—I believe that to be correct; I will correct it if it's not—recruited to Kurlana Tapa over the last 12 months. Importantly, I believe we are on track to meet the Closing the Gap target of reducing Aboriginal young people in custody by 30 per cent by 2031.