Mrs PRICE - 2013-02-19
Can you inform the House about the progress made by the Mills government implementing youth boot camps?
ANSWER
Gladly, Madam Speaker. The Northern Territory County Liberals, under the guidance of Terry Mills as the leader in opposition, made some promises prior to the last election in relation to boot camps. I thank the honourable member for her question because it is a very important question.
We have done something quite novel: something the members opposite are not used to doing. To inform ourselves how we proceed with this we have determined to have meetings with interested stakeholders as to what should be in the tenders. Rather than simply imposing something from the bureaucracy on the people who will be, in every likelihood, tendering for these documents, we are asking those people what should be in the tenders.
I was in a meeting in Alice Spring last month. When we organised a meeting with potential stakeholders, 47 individual groups and organisations were represented. That is something that surprised me and people from the department.
There is real interest in boot camps because there is a real problem with youth offending, both here in Darwin and across the Northern Territory and down to Alice Springs.
The models of boot camps we will be using will be aimed at intervention; that is, for young people who are flirting at the edges of the criminal justice system and who are also under custodial orders. There will be two different types of boot camps, and they will challenge these young people physically and challenge them to become better than they are.
Unlike the American model of boot camps, which simply forced people to go through a series of physical challenges, there will be follow-up after they leave the boot camp environment. The problem with the American model is largely, once they leave the boot camp, there is nobody telling them what to do.
We will ensure in the boot camps in the Northern Territory - both in the intervention and the custodial camps - when they leave those boot camps they are capable of making decisions that are good for themselves and the people around them. We are going to teach responsibility and accountability to those kids.
The former government, of course, hated boot camps; they wanted to whinge about the term. However, we are not afraid of saying to children, ‘We demand something from you’, as we should be ...
Ms Walker: The Youth Justice Review did not recommend them. Best practice does not recommend them ...
Mr ELFERINK: I pick up on that interjection. The Youth Justice Review recommended exactly this sort of camp. If you take the time to read the recommendations of the report, you would know ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! If the minister is so concerned about youth justice why did he offer to resign as minister this morning?
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Your time has expired, minister.
ANSWER
Gladly, Madam Speaker. The Northern Territory County Liberals, under the guidance of Terry Mills as the leader in opposition, made some promises prior to the last election in relation to boot camps. I thank the honourable member for her question because it is a very important question.
We have done something quite novel: something the members opposite are not used to doing. To inform ourselves how we proceed with this we have determined to have meetings with interested stakeholders as to what should be in the tenders. Rather than simply imposing something from the bureaucracy on the people who will be, in every likelihood, tendering for these documents, we are asking those people what should be in the tenders.
I was in a meeting in Alice Spring last month. When we organised a meeting with potential stakeholders, 47 individual groups and organisations were represented. That is something that surprised me and people from the department.
There is real interest in boot camps because there is a real problem with youth offending, both here in Darwin and across the Northern Territory and down to Alice Springs.
The models of boot camps we will be using will be aimed at intervention; that is, for young people who are flirting at the edges of the criminal justice system and who are also under custodial orders. There will be two different types of boot camps, and they will challenge these young people physically and challenge them to become better than they are.
Unlike the American model of boot camps, which simply forced people to go through a series of physical challenges, there will be follow-up after they leave the boot camp environment. The problem with the American model is largely, once they leave the boot camp, there is nobody telling them what to do.
We will ensure in the boot camps in the Northern Territory - both in the intervention and the custodial camps - when they leave those boot camps they are capable of making decisions that are good for themselves and the people around them. We are going to teach responsibility and accountability to those kids.
The former government, of course, hated boot camps; they wanted to whinge about the term. However, we are not afraid of saying to children, ‘We demand something from you’, as we should be ...
Ms Walker: The Youth Justice Review did not recommend them. Best practice does not recommend them ...
Mr ELFERINK: I pick up on that interjection. The Youth Justice Review recommended exactly this sort of camp. If you take the time to read the recommendations of the report, you would know ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! If the minister is so concerned about youth justice why did he offer to resign as minister this morning?
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Your time has expired, minister.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016