Act swiftly on youth crisis

TEENAGERS in custody who go on the rampage, threatening staff and causing significant damage to property, display a contempt for authority that undermines the youth justice system.

Police Incident Response Team members at the Parkville Youth Justice Centre.

TEENAGERS in custody who go on the rampage, threatening staff and causing significant damage to property, display a contempt for authority that undermines the youth justice system.

Such senseless acts of destruction are unacceptable. But it’s clear these violent offenders are exploiting flaws in the Parkville Youth Justice Centre’s ageing infrastructure, which highlights the need for secure accommodation that protects them, their fellow inmates and staff.

It is clear the State Government is trying to gain control of the situation with little success.

Victorians could be excused for believing the government is distracted by the bitter dispute between the United Firefighters Union and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade and Country Fire Authority, and by its High Court challenge to an Ombudsman’s investigation of allegations that the Labor Party misused parliamentary resources in the lead-up to the last state election.

Pressure is mounting on Youth Affairs Minister Jenny Mikakos, who yesterday admitted the Parkville centre was not fit for purpose, and that rioting young offenders were seizing on weaknesses in the infrastructure.

Ms Mikakos has sought to lay blame on the previous government for shelving a master plan to redevelop the 1990s centre.

Yesterday, she vowed to expedite the business case to build a new secure unit to house the juveniles.

This well-intended pledge is welcome, and must not be allowed to stall in a tangle of red tape.

Tough decisions on the future of Victoria’s juvenile justice system must be made urgently.

For staff charged with managing the young thugs and their fellow inmates, who have been subjected to constant violence, the situation is now on a knife-edge.

Public confidence in the youth justice system is waning, and the repair bill for damage — a bill that will be footed by the public — is mounting. The Herald Sun has revealed that repairs at the Parkville and Malmsbury detention centres over the past two years will amount to $10 million.

And on Saturday night, yet more damage was done to the Parkville centre.

Offenders thumbing their noses at authorities also put a strain on precious emergency services resources. More than 35 police officers were called to Parkville when a group of young inmates began causing mayhem after refusing to leave the swimming pool.

The inmates made their way into the roof cavity and were able to break another detainee out of a cell.

Incidents at Parkville over the past nine months have included riots in May and August, a stand-off between metal-bar-wielding teenagers on the roof and guards and police, and the trashing of cells by inmates trying to break out.

Damage to the centre led the government to transfer youths to an adult jail: Barwon Prison — a move that has prompted legal battles, with the prospect of more turmoil to come.

The juvenile offenders who are found to have broken the law should face the consequences of their actions, so as to deter any others who would seek to emulate their reckless behaviour.

Blaming previous governments is not going to bring calm to a tense juvenile justice system. Ms Mikakos must act swiftly and sternly to ensure a clearly struggling network can operate to the expectations of all Victorians.

MINISTER MUST GO

EMBATTLED federal Health Minister Sussan Ley has finally apologised for an “error of judgment”, agreeing to repay money claimed from taxpayers for a trip to the Gold Coast during which she bought an investment property.

The mea culpa follows days of sustained public pressure after the revelation by the Herald Sun that taxpayers paid more than $12,000 for her to charter a VIP jet to the Gold Coast for a meeting last year.

Health Minister Sussan Ley has finally apologised for an “error of judgment”.

The Herald Sun also revealed that she charged taxpayers thousands of dollars for a 2015 trip to Queensland with her husband, during which she brought a $795,000 investment property.

At the time, Ms Ley insisted that all of her travel claims had been in accordance with the rules.

But she has now asked the Finance Department to review her ministerial travel claims, totalling $40,000 over the past three years.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said that Ms Ley’s claim on the public purse for the costs of a trip — during which she had purchased a property — “does not meet the high standards he expects of ministers”.

It also fails to meet Australian voters’ expectations about how their elected representatives should behave.

For Ms Ley to simply apologise and repay the moneys after being caught out is not enough.

She must resign.

If she refuses to do so, Mr Turnbull must sack her.

The only way to restore public confidence in ministers is to hold to account those who make serious errors of judgment.