Minister Jinson Charls stands firm over Youth Hub at Leanyer Recreation Park
Minister for Youth, Seniors and Equality Jinson Charls says the CLP Government’s decision to relocate its youth hub to Leanyer will not bring anti-social behaviour to the suburb despite concerns from critics. Read the details.
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Minister for Youth, Seniors and Equality Jinson Charls says the CLP Government’s decision to relocate its youth hub to Leanyer will not bring anti-social behaviour to the suburb despite concerns from critics.
At a press conference on Thursday, Mr Charls said the decision to relocate the hub came after “people raised concerns” about the original location at the Casuarina Fire Station site, referencing a petition of 90 signatures against the proposed location.
However, only two Casuarina addresses were actually on the petition.
When asked if moving the hub to Leanyer would bring anti-social behaviour to the suburb, Mr Charls claimed the focus of the centre was not just for crime and anti-social behaviour.
He later said that if the youth hub were to be in Casuarina it would “attract” children to anti-social behaviour and “further complicate support”.
Mr Charls said he was yet to talk with the federal government or Luke Gosling about any further funding, however he suggested he would at a later date.
It is understood $4.619 million has been allocated for the project, which will be revealed in the 2025-26 Territory Budget.
Mr Charls, while unable to provide an exact timeline, said ideally he would like the hub to be completed in 12-18 months.
“As a government, we want no delay for this and we want this to be done as soon as possible,” he said.
“When it comes to the process and systems, and when it comes to the tender and other things, it’s something that’s beyond my control.”
Sentinel Property Group chief executive Warren Ebert, the owner of Casuarina Square, said he thought the government were more concerned with political talking-points rather than what was right for the community.
“What worries me is that this is just a political thing, ‘Labor wanted it there, so we’re not going to put it there’,” he said.
“The one thing that Labor did was they had discussions with us and other business people; I’ve had no discussions with the current government.”
Mr Ebert said there were a number of benefits – such as on-the-job training – that children could have taken advantage of if the hub was to stay at Casuarina.
“We own a shopping centre that gets 8.4 million visitors a year … and I would’ve thought it made sense to have something close to the activities,” he said.
“We would have been happy to work with them to supply some training because there might be some kids who want to get into retail or security or whatever, and we’d be keen to assist them where we can.
“If the youth hub is a long way away, that’s impossible for us.”
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Originally published as Minister Jinson Charls stands firm over Youth Hub at Leanyer Recreation Park
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