BANKSIA HILL DETENTION CENTRE — PREMIER'S
MEETING
749. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question.
Could the Premier advise what his government will do differently to address the
challenges in the youth justice system as a result
of his meeting held this morning or will he continue to do the same?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
I just outlined to the Leader of
the Opposition, but I will be repetitive because that is the nature of her
questioning every single day. We are going to do something that has never been
done before, which is an on-country sentencing option. It is not a boot camp,
as the Liberal government before the last one put in place. It will be an
on-country sentencing option in the Kimberley for, in particular, Aboriginal
youths from throughout regional WA. That is different. A new model of care will
be developed—we are working through—that will be different from
what is currently in place. I outlined the rewrite of the legislation a moment
ago of the juvenile justice act.
Ms M.J. Davies: You're
already doing that, Premier.
Mr M. McGOWAN: It has not
been drafted; it has not been introduced.
The last juvenile justice act was
passed by Cheryl Edwardes, I think, back in the mid-1990s. It is something that
has been redrafted with a view to
implementation. They are three important things. As I constantly say, and I
thought that the Minister for Community
Services—both ministers were very impressive—was very
impressive this morning when she said
that it is a complex issue. There is rehabilitation and providing opportunities
to young people, detainees, which is incredibly important, but there are
also the rights and protection of people in the public and the victims. We have
to take both of these things into account; we cannot do just one.