‘Embrace an element of fun’: WA to spend $120k on artwork for kids detention centre

A high-profile youth justice advocate says a decision to spend $120,000 on a piece of art in the new Banksia Hill crisis centre is “silly” when there were plenty of other areas the money would be put to better use in the trouble-plagued facility.

The Department of Justice is seeking expressions of interest for the new piece under the Percent for Art Scheme, which requires government projects to set aside 1 per cent of the construction budget for public art.

The Department of Justice suggested the artwork could be a mural on the basketball court. Credit: Department of Finance/Justice

The tender document states the artwork must meet the curatorial theme “Radiant Connections/Future Forward”.

“Artists are invited to explore the interconnected themes of hope, belonging, identity, positive
futures and fun in working with the Banksia Detention Centre to create works to inspire reflection
while fostering joy and connection,” the document states.

“This project aims to engage art as a medium to cultivate hope, imagining new possibilities and brighter futures, through evoking a sense of belonging, and creating a unified language that bridges cultural, personal, and societal divides, fostering unity and shared experience.

Gerry Georgatos.

“Finally, the art should embrace an element of fun—to capture play and youth of creativity, balancing the deeper themes of hope and belonging with the simple pleasure that art can bring.”

But suicidality and youth justice expert Gerry Georgatos described the money as a “misspend” and said it made him think of the two teenagers – Cleveland Dodd and an unnamed 17-year-old – who took their own lives in Unit 18.

“I can think of a number of ways I would have spent the $120,000 and by so doing kept them alive, but a misspend on artwork is most definitely not the way,” Georgatos said.

The $29.1 million, eight-bed Banksia Hill crisis centre is being built to house children experiencing a mental health crisis at the detention centre.

The department ignored a request for an update on the facility’s construction.

The department made several suggestions for the artwork, including painting a mural on the basketball court, decorating concrete furniture or painting the roof of the centre’s day room.

The tender encouraged interested artists to include a text-based poem or instruction “to prompt hope and imagination”.

“In my social work-like existence, every dollar misspent can be argued as leaving someone behind, in my experience, it comes with loss of life,” Georgatos said.

“I remember foremost young lives lost because there aren’t enough of us funded and resourced to be there for them.

“Every dollar eked out from our penny-pinching governments needs to be dedicated to supporting those these abandoned children can lean on.”

Georgatos said the $120,000 could be better spent on 30 more hours each week for an “after-hours” counsellor or 30 hours of visits from a child trauma psychologist.

A Department of Justice spokesman said all government departments undertaking new building work over $2 million were obligated to include artwork under the Percent for Arts scheme, which had been in place since 2009.

“The scheme sets a nominal amount to help provide positive community outcomes, both for the artist(s) involved and the users of the facilities,” he said.

The tender also stated the artwork should be made from durable materials and should not have any sharp edges.

The crisis centre was first announced in November 2023 as part of a suite of new youth justice infrastructure, including a new high-risk unit that would house detainees currently locked up in the notorious Unit 18 at Casuarina men’s prison.

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