Children in Detention

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (14:46): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question without notice to the Attorney-General on the topic of children in detention.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS: Article 37 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out binding principles for sentencing juvenile offenders by stating, and I quote:

No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time...

In 2022, in a report on South Australia's progress on recommendations made by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Commissioner for Children and Young People noted that, in 2022, there were 292 children and young people detained at the Kurlana Tapa Youth Justice Centre, with 47 per cent of those being First Nations children. That same year, 52 children between the ages of 10 and 13 were admitted to custody. My question to the Attorney-General, therefore, is: how many kids are currently being detained in Kurlana Tapa, and how many children will spend this Christmas in detention?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:48): I thank the honourable member. I think that at any given time it numbers in the dozens of children who are detained at Kurlana Tapa youth detention facility in South Australia. As of earlier this week, I think it was 45 or 46 children detained. I will double-check that, and if it's wildly incorrect by more than a few I am happy to bring back a response, but I think it is 45 or 46 at the present time. How many there will be in just under two months I can't predict, but, as I have said, it's been in the order of dozens over the last few years, I think.