2017-02-06
Greens MP Nina Springle has condemned the decision to transfer youth justice to the Department of Justice and questioned whether building a new facility in the green wedge will be allowed to proceed.
The government today confirmed that they will strip the Department of Health and Human Services of responsibility for youth justice facilities, despite this approach failing in other Australian jurisdictions.
“Running youth justice like adult prisons has created environments like Don Dale,” Nina Springle said.
“Victoria’s youth justice system has been neglected and failed. Changes need to be made, but handing youth justice to corrections won’t do anything to improve rehabilitation of offenders or make the community safer in the long run.
“As the Ombudsman today said, successive governments have failed to address long-term issues and there is no short-term fix.
“Given the site proposed for the new prison appears to be zoned as green wedge, it will require parliamentary approval and there are questions about whether it will even go ahead,” she said.