Mr MILLS - 2008-06-10
In your deceitful release on youth crime on 31 March …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Leader of the Opposition well knows he cannot accuse the Chief Minister of deceit unless by way of substantive motion.
Madam SPEAKER: I will seek some advice on this, because I think he is referring to the document.
Mr MILLS: I will swap it with dishonest, if that is okay.
Madam SPEAKER: Please rephrase that, Leader of the Opposition.
Members interjecting.
Mr MILLS: Well, you said it. Yes, Madam Speaker. In your disingenuous release on youth crime on 31 March you claimed: ‘Repeat offenders will have to go to court to face the consequence of their actions, including detention’. If that is the case, why are your budget papers predicting no increase in the number of youths serving sentences at Don Dale Detention Centre next year? And, why has the number fallen by 25% in the current year?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, which I helped write for him, to help him get it over the line.
As Chief Minister, I am absolutely committed to cracking down on youth crime throughout the Northern Territory. That is why this government, in the previous session of parliament, passed significant legislation in regard to cracking down on youth crime. For the first time in the Northern Territory - and, I believe, in the way we constructed it, the first time nationally – we established a series of arrangements around parental responsibility orders that the police can apply for and the courts can impose to attempt to hold accountable a small number of parents who do not give a damn about what their kids, who are repeat offenders, are getting up to around the Northern Territory.
The second part of that was to close the revolving door on juvenile diversion. When we had a good look at juvenile diversion, it is a very good scheme where about 70% of offenders - and these figures have been independently audited - who go through diversion, the courts do not see back again. It is a case of juveniles making the wrong decision, getting involved with the wrong groups of people, making the wrong choices and, when they are held accountable to those choices and, with their parents, victim offender conferencing occurs, 70% of those kids do not re-offend, so it has been successful.
However, when we delved more deeply into the figures, there is a small hard core. Some of these juveniles have been through diversion programs eight to 10 times, just thumbing their noses at the system, knowing that, under the previous regime, they could do what they wanted and they were not going to be held to account before a court of law. Well, the door is now closed. You get access to juvenile diversion twice, second time maximum, and on a third time if they are charged with an offence, they will be off before the courts.
We have also implemented youth camps in Central Australia and two in the Top End. These youth camps provide an alternative sentencing option for the courts that did not exist before – it was Don Dale or nothing. As a result of funding committed by this government, now we have a steady flow of juveniles who are being sent to those youth camps as an alternative to Don Dale or juvenile diversion programs, and there is money in the budget for that.
In regard to Don Dale itself, if the courts sentence juveniles to Don Dale then, of course, the budget will be allocated to accommodate those kids in Don Dale. However, where the growth has been in this budget is to establish three youth camps in the Northern Territory that were not an option before. They give the courts the opportunity to get those kids out of their circle of friends, out of their cycle of offending, and getting them into a more positive space to help them break that cycle of offending. Initial results are starting to prove positive.
For the Leader of the Opposition to come in here and say nothing is happening, nothing is going on, everything is getting worse, is totally not supported by the facts in this case. We have invested significantly in police; with the toughest legislation in Australia to deal with juvenile crime in the Northern Territory; and in youth camps that previously had not existed in the Northern Territory. We will continue to fight against youth crime and crime per se right across the Northern Territory.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Leader of the Opposition well knows he cannot accuse the Chief Minister of deceit unless by way of substantive motion.
Madam SPEAKER: I will seek some advice on this, because I think he is referring to the document.
Mr MILLS: I will swap it with dishonest, if that is okay.
Madam SPEAKER: Please rephrase that, Leader of the Opposition.
Members interjecting.
Mr MILLS: Well, you said it. Yes, Madam Speaker. In your disingenuous release on youth crime on 31 March you claimed: ‘Repeat offenders will have to go to court to face the consequence of their actions, including detention’. If that is the case, why are your budget papers predicting no increase in the number of youths serving sentences at Don Dale Detention Centre next year? And, why has the number fallen by 25% in the current year?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, which I helped write for him, to help him get it over the line.
As Chief Minister, I am absolutely committed to cracking down on youth crime throughout the Northern Territory. That is why this government, in the previous session of parliament, passed significant legislation in regard to cracking down on youth crime. For the first time in the Northern Territory - and, I believe, in the way we constructed it, the first time nationally – we established a series of arrangements around parental responsibility orders that the police can apply for and the courts can impose to attempt to hold accountable a small number of parents who do not give a damn about what their kids, who are repeat offenders, are getting up to around the Northern Territory.
The second part of that was to close the revolving door on juvenile diversion. When we had a good look at juvenile diversion, it is a very good scheme where about 70% of offenders - and these figures have been independently audited - who go through diversion, the courts do not see back again. It is a case of juveniles making the wrong decision, getting involved with the wrong groups of people, making the wrong choices and, when they are held accountable to those choices and, with their parents, victim offender conferencing occurs, 70% of those kids do not re-offend, so it has been successful.
However, when we delved more deeply into the figures, there is a small hard core. Some of these juveniles have been through diversion programs eight to 10 times, just thumbing their noses at the system, knowing that, under the previous regime, they could do what they wanted and they were not going to be held to account before a court of law. Well, the door is now closed. You get access to juvenile diversion twice, second time maximum, and on a third time if they are charged with an offence, they will be off before the courts.
We have also implemented youth camps in Central Australia and two in the Top End. These youth camps provide an alternative sentencing option for the courts that did not exist before – it was Don Dale or nothing. As a result of funding committed by this government, now we have a steady flow of juveniles who are being sent to those youth camps as an alternative to Don Dale or juvenile diversion programs, and there is money in the budget for that.
In regard to Don Dale itself, if the courts sentence juveniles to Don Dale then, of course, the budget will be allocated to accommodate those kids in Don Dale. However, where the growth has been in this budget is to establish three youth camps in the Northern Territory that were not an option before. They give the courts the opportunity to get those kids out of their circle of friends, out of their cycle of offending, and getting them into a more positive space to help them break that cycle of offending. Initial results are starting to prove positive.
For the Leader of the Opposition to come in here and say nothing is happening, nothing is going on, everything is getting worse, is totally not supported by the facts in this case. We have invested significantly in police; with the toughest legislation in Australia to deal with juvenile crime in the Northern Territory; and in youth camps that previously had not existed in the Northern Territory. We will continue to fight against youth crime and crime per se right across the Northern Territory.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016