Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner and the National Commissioner for Children and Young People have met with the WA Premier to discuss their concerns around the states management of juvenile justice. It comes as the President of the Children’s Court has taken the extraordinary step of writing to the Corrective Services Minister asking him to correct the record regarding comments made in parliament.
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00:00Australia's Human Rights, Indigenous Social Justice and Children's Commissioners arriving
00:08in WA for crisis talks at State Parliament.
00:12We don't want our children in these facilities and we definitely don't want our children
00:16dying in these facilities.
00:17So we need to be working constructively with government to make sure they're compliant
00:22with their human rights obligations.
00:24It's been almost two weeks since WA recorded its second juvenile death in custody, a 17-year-old
00:30boy who died by suicide at Banksia Hill Youth Detention Centre.
00:35Last October, 16-year-old Cleveland Dodd died from self-harm inside his cell in Unit 18,
00:41the now notorious youth wing inside Casuarina Adult Men's Prison.
00:46Absolutely we'd like to see Unit 18 close but there are a whole lot of other things we
00:50talked about as well in terms of stopping kids ending up in places like Banksia Hill
00:55and Unit 18.
00:56The group met with the Premier, the Corrective Services Minister and the Commissioner for
01:00Corrective Services.
01:02We need everybody coming together to recognise that this is about keeping the community safe
01:06but also about protecting our kids.
01:09Earlier, the Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia was forced to correct the record
01:13at the request of the Children's Court President, Judge Hilton Quayle, over comments he made
01:18in Parliament yesterday about youth detention.
01:21The Law Society of WA has added its voice to calls for change.
01:25It wants an independent review of WA's youth justice system.