Loading The Department of Justice, in a statement, said the decrease was due to a period of instability which led to a change in management at the centre and staff improvements. Its education services are currently being reviewed and a permanent principal has been appointed. "The Department of Justice anticipates that this improved, stable and caring environment at Banksia Hill will result in increased attendance of compulsory school aged children during this financial year 2018/19 and will be reflected in future figures," the statement read. In the same 2017-18 period, four children and five staff members were seriously assaulted at the facility. A further 32 youths and 55 staff were injured in less serious assaults.

Two children attempted suicide and a minor self-harm incident was recorded, on average, every two days (174). The figure is down significantly from 2016-17, when eight attempted suicides and 237 minor self harm incidents were recorded. The Productivity Commission report revealed WA was one of two jurisdictions nationwide to reduce funding to its youth justice services between 2016-17 and 2017-18, cutting $1.2 million from its detention and diversion programs, and community-based orders and services. It also found more than half of sentenced youths in WA re-offended within 12 months and around one in every three youth offenders failed to complete their community-based orders. On average, around 132 children were in detention each day, down from 137 the previous year. The number of children on community-based orders was also down slightly from 596 to 591 during the same period.

Amnesty International Australia Indigenous rights campaigner Belinda Lowe said the report was further evidence WA needed to increase the minimum age of criminality to the global median age of 14. "Right now, WA is locking up little children as young as 10," she said. "If kids aren’t old enough to have a Facebook account, why does WA think they are old enough to send them to prison? "This system is broken, but it doesn’t have to be that way. "The WA government needs to see sense and instead fund Indigenous-led programs, which will help Indigenous children to thrive in their communities, not suffer in Banksia children’s prison."

Loading WA Attorney General John Quigley lobbied during a meeting of Australian attorney generals in November 2018 for a working group to be established to determine if the minimum age for criminal responsibility in Australia should be changed. The agenda item was supported and a report on the issue is due by the end of 2019. The Department of Justice refuted the claim WA's youth justice system was broken, referring to an independent review by the Inspector of Custodial Services in 2018 which found the centre had made positive progress in stability, safety, morale and governance, since a riot at the facility in May 2017. The report also found the centre faced serious challenges and had not enjoyed a significant period of stability or strong performance since it became the only youth detention centre in the state in 2009.

"One centre cannot adequately cater for so many young people, so much diversity, and such high levels of need," the report found. Kylee Douglas, whose son, 19, recently served a detention sentence at Banksia Hill before being transferred to an adult prison, said she believed the youth justice system was too focused on punishing young people, rather than rehabilitating them. "My son is a mess of scars now from the self-harming (he did in detention)," she said. "I feel Banksia Hill does not focus on any real rehabilitation, it’s just a punitive 'lock them away, contain them' until they either come back or turn 18 and go to adult prison. "I feel that it’s a pipeline for adult prison."

Banksia Hill Detention Centre. Credit:File photo/supplied Ms Douglas said she felt her family could have been more involved in her son’s detention, which may have helped prevent him lashing out and being involved in a riot at the facility in 2017. "He hasn’t committed a crime in the community since he was 16 years old but he’s still serving his sentence for the riots," she said. "He’s a different kid when he’s home ... my husband and I had spoken with numerous staff to tell them he needs regiment and a schedule, but nothing was ever listened to." According to the report, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youths in 2017-18 were nationally 24 times more likely to receive detention-based supervision than a non-Indigenous child.

On average, three quarters of children in Banksia Hill at any given time are Indigenous and most are boys. The Department of Justice, in a statement, said while WA had the highest rate of Aboriginal young people in detention and community supervision, the figure had decreased in recent years. "Many factors influence youth offending patterns, including a young person’s family environment and social circumstances and geographical location. This is particularly the case for Western Australia," the statement read. "The department is constantly seeking new evidence-based interventions to improve the outcomes for young people in contact with the justice system preferably through prevention, but if not through the care of young people under supervision and rehabilitation." If kids aren’t old enough to have a Facebook account, why does WA think they are old enough to send them to prison? Belinda Lowe

The Department of Justice, in its efforts to reduce young people reoffending, has recruited youth justice officers to further provide support to young people to successfully complete their community-based orders. The officers support children across five outcomes — rehabilitation; emotional wellbeing; education, employment and training; life skills, health and development; and bail services. WA Commissioner for Children and Young People Colin Pettit said the ultimate goal for the state’s youth justice system should be to work with and support young people to turn their lives around and create a positive future. "The Auditor General’s Diverting Young People Away From Court report released last year identified a concerning lack of coordination and use of youth justice diversion programs for young people," he said. "A separate report by the Inspector of Custodial Services concluded that changes were required at Banksia Hill to provide a greater focus on rehabilitation.