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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-09-04 Daily Xml
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YOUTH TRAINING CENTRE

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (15:39): My question is to the Minister for Communities: will the minister inform us about the new youth training centre that he recently opened?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (15:39): I would like to indulge the members of the opposition, but I shall not on this occasion. The Adelaide Youth Training Centre at Goldsborough Road at Cavan was commissioned late last week. The new building is in close proximity to the existing Cavan Youth Training Centre at Jonal Drive and of course it replaces, after 40 years, the old Magill Training Centre, which will be decommissioned.

The Adelaide Youth Training Centre will provide an environment for young men and young women to get the support and the educational opportunities that they need to make a fresh start in their lives. There are five 12-bed residential units with a capacity for 60 young people. I am advised that all the units have a kitchen, a laundry, social activity areas, multipurpose rooms, courtyards and, of course, a staff office. A key feature of the Adelaide Youth Training Centre is the education centre, which incorporates three general learning areas, an art room, woodwork and metalwork workshops, cooking facilities, a library and a hairdressing training room. Education is at the centre of the campus, both figuratively and also in terms of concept; it is what the centre is about.

Another key feature of the training centre is the health centre, where residents of the training centre can receive appropriate health care, including dental services. As the new centre will focus on community reintegration, a community centre, which includes a visiting area for family visits and a multifaith room, is another important aspect in the new Adelaide Youth Training Centre. There are both indoor and outdoor recreational facilities provided at the new centre. In addition, the new structure at the centre will provide a new service approach, which will also operate at the existing Cavan Youth Training Centre at Jonal Drive.

This new approach will incorporate a new behaviour management framework, an operational model and a new staffing structure, some of the key features of which include a single staffing and management structure across both training centres. Co-locating government providers, including health and education, to work alongside youth workers integrating both rehabilitation and educational outcomes and services is a new approach, as is also the establishment of an assessment and case coordination team responsible for a new assessment and accommodation unit assignment process and, finally, the introduction of a proactive behavioural support approach that uses an incentive system to manage and encourage pro-social behaviour by children and young people.

The state government is committed to providing a safer community, and I am confident that the Adelaide Youth Training Centre is a safe and secure facility that the community can have great confidence in. The government has considered the safety of the community as paramount, and that is why the Adelaide Youth Training Centre contains some state-of-the-art security systems. Security measures include closed-circuit television surveillance systems, a 5.5 metre perimeter wall and metal detection systems. The wall also has an anticlimb barrel on top.

The state government recognises that the need to give young offenders the best possible chance to turn their lives around is at the core of what we do at this training centre. Every chance for every child is a key priority for the Weatherill government, and education is a powerful tool in helping young people to stop and think about their choices and improve their lives.

There is also an element of restorative justice in the way that we will be dealing with these young people, because we will be asking them to think about the impact of their offending, the impact of their offending on the community, the impact of offending on those people that they have hurt, and to deal with those issues and to come to a position where they may decide to make some sense of restitution either to their victims or to the community in general.

Building the new AYTC gives us the opportunity to put education at the centre of our care for these young offenders. Fundamentally what we would like to see is young people turning their lives around and not reoffending. I am confident that the new Adelaide Youth Training Centre will create the environment to enable that to happen. I should also acknowledge that the new Adelaide Youth Training Centre has been warmly welcomed by the spokesperson for the opposition and also by the Public Service Association and other key stakeholders.

The Hon. S.G. Wade: Better very late than never!

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: It is better late than never that the honourable member for Morialta comes to this party and now commends the government for what we have done with the centre. I am very pleased for the support of the opposition in this matter. It is better late than never, as the Hon. Mr Wade remarks, but at last the opposition recognises that this government is the government that has delivered this new centre, and again, we have delivered an excellent centre that will focus on turning around the lives of young offenders. I understand that Mr Peter Christopher from the Public Service Association on radio FIVEaa said:

The new facility will provide not only a better standard of accommodation but more modern facilities.

I understand that he also said that it will provide a better and safer work environment for our employees. I understand that Pam Simmons, the Guardian for Children, said this:

It is almost incomparable the difference in size—

that is, between Magill and the new training centre—

Magill screamed at you humiliation and disrespect whereas this environment talks about, or tells you more about education, rehabilitation and respect and it makes a very big difference.

Providing a safe and secure environment is necessary for the protection of young people, our staff, visitors and also the community. The security initiatives at the Adelaide Youth Training Centre are reasonably unobtrusive (except for the 5.5 metre high wall), the main focus being to guide and proactively manage children and young people in our care. The key features, as I mentioned, are:

the perimeter wall—a continuous secure perimeter around the entire centre monitored by a central control room;

the secure perimeter, as I mentioned earlier, includes a 5.5 metre high solid wall with an anti-climb drum; and

physical security elements, including anti-dig barriers, sterile no-go zones and demarcation lines.

We are confident that, going forward, this new centre will offer us a better and alternative way of treating young people in our care.

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