ASHLEY YOUTH DETENTION CENTRE Keep us informed and involved

Ashley Youth Detention Centre near Westbury in northern Tasmania, with inset of Premier Peter Gutwein.

THE sudden announcement from Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein about closing Ashley Youth Detention Centre has shocked many people. Whatever that site is to be used for in the future should be decided in proper consultation with the local communities of both Deloraine and Exton, not just with the Mayor.

Westbury residents know only too well the damage and division that is done to a community when a controversial development is lobbed in without consultation or warning.

Heather Donaldson

Westbury

BROADSCALE REVIEW

THE decision last week by Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein to close Ashley Youth Detention Centre (AYDC) provides a unique opportunity to consider a broad, whole-of-government review of justice policy.

It is well known that in many instanGutwein

ces young people who, sadly, end up in AYDC have spent most, if not a significant component, of their lives in the “care and protection” of the state. It has, in essence, meant that the Tasmanian government has taken on the responsibility of parenting these children. For these children then to end up in AYDC demonstrates, very clearly, the failure of the government to provide the care and protection they need.

Sadly again, it is often the case that once these children turn 18, they end up in our adult corrections system, one beleaguered by its own catastrophic shortcomings. Our systems have failed these people.

The Premier’s decision presents a unique opportunity for the necessary rebuild of the entire corrections sector in collaboration and partnership with stakeholders; service, support and education providers; unions; the legal and academic fraternities and affected communities, especially those overly represented

in incarceration facilities. This will ensure that any moneys committed to the change properly address the fundamental purpose of supported rehabilitation and remain transparent for all to see.

To embark on this approach is also an opportunity for the Tasmanian government to shed its reputation of secrecy by embracing and using the collective wisdom available in the Tasmanian community. There is nothing more important than the way we care for our children, support our vulnerable and work together to protect our future generations.

BARNS SPOT ON

Tim Jacobson New Town

TALKING Point columnist Greg Barns’s critique “Hell hole for kids finally shut down” (Mercury, September 13) is just so accurate.

Thanks to Tasmanian Premier Peter for making this landmark call on shutting down the Ashley Youth Detention Centre — a facility that ticks absolutely no boxes.

The alternative of two purpose-built juvenile centres, hopefully one in the North and one in the South, makes sound sense, but the emphasis must be on rehabilitation rather than confinement as a form of punishment.

I would love to see the young offenders accommodated and afforded certain privileges in an environment commensurate with the now defunct Hayes Prison Farm in the Derwent Valley, where, under supervision, new skills in farming practices could be achieved.

Locking the kids up will achieve nothing, and rehabilitation through appropriately qualified personnel is their only chance and hope of achieving a normal life.

Chris Davey Lindisfarne