Youth Justice Services

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (14:47): My question is to the Minister for Human Services about youth justice. How is the Marshall Liberal government providing culturally responsive services for Aboriginal young people in custody?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:47): I thank the honourable member for her question. There is indeed a lot of work going on through the youth justice programs, particularly the Kurlana Tapa Youth Training Centre at Goldsborough Road. To outline in general terms some of the works and changes to our service delivery taking place there, we had a trial of combining all the young people onto the Goldsborough site, and that has now concluded.

We did that because the Jonal Drive campus is outdated and makes it difficult to deliver a therapeutic service. We believe that expanding the Kurlana Tapa Goldsborough Road campus will improve services for all young people on that campus. Honourable members may be aware that in the last budget we allocated $18.7 million over three years to consolidate the youth services.

We will be delivering a new 12-bed accommodation unit, a new eight-bed police custody unit to ensure that children and young people awaiting court appearances will be accommodated separately from children and young people during periods of remand or sentence detention, a new classroom space to enable education requirements to be met with all population cohorts on site, and an extended visiting space to support children and young people having time with families and visitors. During this period, the Jonal Drive campus will continue to remain active. That will support all the young people at the training centre.

It was my great pleasure last week to be able to be present for the unveiling of the new Aboriginal Cultural Trail and Connection Space, which was something that was part of our youth justice plan. The design was developed in very close consultation with Aboriginal elders. It includes a range of natural elements and totem poles and the water space. It will be a place that we know will be greatly valued by all people who are using that site. We are also anticipating that it will be a place where the Aboriginal elders can get together with young people to connect with them.

We were very grateful for Major Sumner, also known as Uncle Moogy, who did his Welcome to Country, followed by a smoking ceremony and dance. I had the opportunity to speak. Nobody laughed at my joke when I said I wasn't about to audition for So You Think You Can Dance, because I knew that I couldn't, but we did enjoy participating in the dances we were invited to, including with some of the young people who are in the training centre.

There is also going to be an outdoor theatre, which will make it a much more welcoming space—much more normalised for young people there. As we go forward, we look forward to further works that will improve the amenity for the people, both resident there and working there.