Trouble continues to plague Tasmania’s Ashley Youth Detention Centre, with staff shortages leading to numerous lockdowns in the past month, an inquiry has been told.
Lucas Digney, the assistant state secretary of the Health and Community Services Union, expressed concerns about the lack of skilled workers at the Ashley Youth Detention Centre.
“In the last month we’ve seen lockdowns because of staffing (issues),” he said at a state parliamentary inquiry on Thursday.
“I know the government don’t like to call it lockdown but that’s what it is if young people are restricted to their rooms … they’re locked down.”
The Tasmanian government has already pledged to close the troubled centre by the end of 2024 and establish a new therapeutic model with improved facilities.
However, a separate commission of inquiry, set to release its report in August, heard distressing accounts of alleged physical, sexual and verbal abuse inflicted upon detainees at Ashley.
These revelations led to calls from political parties and human rights advocates to shut down the facility immediately.
Minister for Education, Children and Youth, Roger Jaensch, said he hoped to provide an updated timeline for the closure of the centre in the coming months.
He acknowledged the government’s development of a “more sophisticated” model to replace Ashley but explained that it would require additional time to implement.
The new plan includes the construction of five purpose-built facilities, including a detention centre in southern Tasmania at a yet-to-be-determined location.
According to Mr Digney, the uncertainty surrounding the new model has contributed to the instability in staffing.
“For two years we’ve been asking what the plan is, and we still don’t have a plan.”
Mr Digney said there had been some improvements in staffing levels in the past few months.
“But certainly in the two years previously, there is no assurance that … the workforce was stable or they had the necessary skills.”
Minister Jaensch admitted that there have been staffing challenges in the past six to twelve months.
Jaensch assured that restrictive practices, such as confining detainees to their rooms, are only used as a last resort and for the shortest possible time to ensure detainees safety.
