“You can put lipstick on a pig”: Lambie wants youth rehabilitation model to be completely different

More information is needed on how the State Government plans to run its youth justice model, according to Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie.

More detail is needed on the closure of the Ashley Youth Detention Centre, according to Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie, after the future of the facility was revealed on Thursday.

The AYDC has been at the centre of controversy for decades, but more recently has faced allegations of bullying and physical assault within its walls.

The centre is set to close within three years and be replaced by facilities in the north and south, a plan which Senator Lambie said needed “more meat”.

“How about Elise Archer give us a bit more substance,” Senator Lambie said.

She said the facility needed to be completely different.

Senator Jacqui Lambie in Parliament House, Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“It’s not just about rejigging and giving them a new building,” she said.

“You can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig.

“There needs to be a whole new holistic response.

Senator Lambie had previously called for the closure of the site.

“This is way overdue, the way we run prisons in Tasmania is like the 1950s, it’s shocking,” Senator Lambie said.

“There’s bugger all success rates coming out of Ashleys.”

Senator Lambie said better access to support services was needed.

“As soon as they get to the front gate there’s no services for them there,” Senator Lambie said.

“That rehabilitation part is missing”

The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre said it was disappointed with the plan to create two new facilities.

“Locking them up in prisons cells has never worked and will never worked,” Campaign manager Nala Mansell said.

“It’s ridiculous for the premier to suggest the new prison system for children will be therapeutic, there is nothing therapeutic about locking children up.”

Nala Mansell

Ms Mansell said Aboriginal children are over-represented within the justice system.

She said in previous years, the TAC ran an alternative program.

“Aboriginal youth who had been sent to Ashley were able to do their time on the Clark Island, they would be on country, have visits from family, we’d have youth workers and counsellors spend time with them,” she said.

“We saw a reduction in the number of Aboriginal children in Ashley Youth Detention Centre.”

“The programs we ran haven’t been available for many years, the funding was pulled for it.”

Premier Peter Gutwein said the new facilities would adopt a more therapeutic approach.

Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein speaks to the media in Hobart on Friday, September 10, 2021.

“We can provide a therapeutic wrap around to ensure we can support those young people as best as we can,” Mr Gutwein said.

Mr Gutwein believed a youth detention centre was needed.

“We do have a detention facility and unfortunately we will need a detention facility of some description into the future,” Mr Gutwein said.

“There are matters with keeping young people safe but also ensuring we keep the community safe as well.

“I do see that we’ll need some form of detention facility moving forward but it needs to have completely different engagement our young people.”