Youth centre abuse claims
Staff stood down, call for inquiry into crisis
THREE staff members from the Ashley Youth Detention Centre have been stood down amid hundreds of allegations of abuse, including child rape.
But the government is standing firm against growing calls to examine child sex abuse scandals in the health, education and now, youth justice system.
THREE staff members from the Ashley Youth Detention Centre have been stood down amid hundreds of allegations of abuse — including child rape.
The state government is standing firm against growing calls for a Commission of Inquiry to examine child sex abuse scandal sin the Launceston General Hospital, the education system and now in the youth justice system.
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor raised the allegations in parliament on Thursday, accusing the government of not treating the issue seriously enough.
“I believe there is something both rotten and wrong with the way at-risk children are dealt with in Tasmania,” she said.
“We need a fully resourced, independent Commission of Inquiry to examine what are clearly systemic issues with the treatment of children and young people in state facilities in Tasmania. The government should not be treating these as isolated and totally separate incidents.
“It goes to a systemic issue, cultural issues, it raises questions about how state institutions and agencies look after kids and young people in their care.”
Human Services Minister Roger Jaensch said an investigation was under way into the latest abuse claims.
“The safety of children and young people in our care is of paramount importance and we take all allegations very seriously,’’ he said.
“I can confirm three people are stood down from the Ashley Youth Detention Centre after historical allegations were referred to police for investigation.
“The employees were stood down and an independent investigation is now under way, in addition to the police referral.”
Three inquiries are now underway into claims of sexual abuse of children in government facilities.
In addition to Ashley, there are separate inquiries into a series of claims made against a Launceston General Hospital nurse, and an inquiry into claims of abuse within the Education Department.
Lawyer Sebastian Buscemi acts for several alleged victims of abuse from Ashley. He said it was time for an inquiry.
“I think it’s really important that we get to the bottom of what’s gone on across a number of departments ,’’ he said.
“It’ s a very similar pattern of cover-up and offending that we can see across these departments.
“It needs to be completely independent of government, it needs to look at the systems as a whole, why it is that this conduct has existed in the Education Department, in the Health Department, in Communities, in Child Protection, and why it is that so many people can have allegations against them over such long periods of time, and either stay where they are or get shuffled around from different schools or hospitals or different parts of Child Protection .”
Labor health spokeswoman Sarah Lovell said the government could no longer resist calls for a broader inquiry.
“We are calling today on the government again to commit to a full Commission of Inquiry into the allegations of historical child sex abuse at the Launceston General Hospital ,” she said.