Thursday, 17 October 2024

Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:24): (697) My question is for the Minister for Youth Justice. In October 2023 the minister told the house that his department was conducting an internal investigation into riots that took place at the Malmsbury youth detention centre, and I ask therefore: what were the findings of that investigation?

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:25): I thank Mr Davis for his question and his interest in our youth justice system. Mr Davis would be well aware that the Malmsbury facility was decommissioned at the end of last year and is no longer in use. We obviously have new facilities. The Cherry Creek facility, a state-of-the-art facility that incorporates intensive interventions for young people, provides medical and educational support to young people to reduce reoffending when people are back out, understanding that a lot of the people that are in custodial settings will be back out in the community one day. In relation to the Malmsbury facility and the incidents that occurred last year, the department after any incident such as that does do an internal investigation and looks into matters and what improvements can be made. Since that period, Malmsbury has been closed off and no longer exists. It is no longer part of our youth justice system.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:26): I understand from what the minister said that there was an internal investigation. I think that is what he said, but he may correct me on that. But I ask very simply, Minister: will you publicly release the investigation report?

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:26): I thank Mr Davis for his supplementary question. Obviously after any incident the department will look at the situation to make sure that similar situations are prevented, if able, understanding that our youth justice custodial facilities are challenging environments, and we take every step to minimise any risk of injury. But I am not going to go into the detail of individual incidents, because I do not want to compromise the security and safety of the facilities or of outcomes. In relation to those reports –

David Davis interjected.

Enver ERDOGAN: I am not going to go into individual incidents because I will not compromise the incidents or the safety and security of the facilities. Matters like these are confidential, and we are dealing with a lot of privacy laws that come up and young people in custody. We cannot release that information. There are laws around providing that sort of information. But it is important that the safety and security of these facilities is maintained. Malmsbury is no longer part of the future of our youth justice system. We have got Cherry Creek and we have got Parkville. We have futureproofed the youth justice system and we have modernised it. It is in a lot better situation than what it was when we inherited the system 10 years ago.