Young Repeat Offenders

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:14): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking questions of the Attorney-General regarding young repeat offenders.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: In his regular radio segment on the ABC most recently, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens entered into the topic of young repeat offenders, and he made an interesting quote, and I quote directly:

I do think we're seeing increasing incidents of young people involved in serious crime…But I do want to provide context that I think the vast majority of young people do the right thing. They don't come to the attention of police. But we do have this cohort of very young children who seem to be operating in the absence of any sort of parental control or supervision, out all hours of the night committing offences and that is a real challenge for us. There is a presumption under the Young Offenders Act that young offenders are given every opportunity to be kept out of the criminal justice system and not retained in custody which does create some difficulties for us with some of these kids who continually come to our attention.

My questions to the Attorney are:

1. Is the Attorney concerned by the situation facing South Australians, as outlined by the commissioner? What assurances can he give to provide law-abiding South Australians comfort?

2. What options or possible solutions is the Attorney able to point to in order to assist SAPOL in dealing with young repeat offenders, or is there simply a gap in the law, meaning that these young repeat offenders will continue their illegal activity largely unabated?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:16): I thank the honourable member for his question and his frequent interest in the safety of our community. In relation to young offenders, there are a variety of ways that SAPOL keeps the community safe. Of course, if a young offender is apprehended it's a decision about bail that is either made by a judicial officer or a police officer at first instance. If there are concerns about a decision that has been made in relation to bail, there are potential avenues for that to be addressed or that to be appealed.

In relation to safety in general, I know that there are laws that we have introduced or procedures under current laws that we have introduced if there have been concerns that have been raised. For example, the police have raised concerns about, particularly in the Adelaide area, antisocial behaviour and some criminality. As the government we have, at the request of the police, declared a public precinct, which gives the police more powers, particularly in relation to the ability to search and the ability to move people out of an area where that is occurring. So there are procedures that we have enlivened at the request of the police, and we are always open to any further requests the police may make.