Bimberi Incident and Headline Indicators
Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I wish to thank the minister for the update she has just provided. It is important to hear more about the Major Incident that happened at the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre late on 26 August.
The safety and wellbeing of the young people detained in this territory are important to me. This is equally true of the safety and wellbeing of the staff who work with these young people. As soon as I became aware of the incident the morning after, I went straight to Bimberi to check on the welfare of both staff and young people. I am grateful that no one was injured too seriously. For the sake of everyone involved, it is crucial that our youth detention facility operate as it should.
I note that the Interim Report mentions ‘the need for further discussion on the adequacy of therapeutic support available in the Centre’. I welcome that discussion. There is simply no point in locking young people up without providing them the best therapeutic support. Best practice from around the world makes it clear what can be accomplished by doing things right.
I therefore look forward to reading Mr Muir’s final report in November and carefully considering the recommendations that it will include. I expect that those recommendations will be accepted and implemented. I also look forward to reviewing the data in this latest Headline Indicators Report. Thank you.