Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Some of Western Australia's most vulnerable regional children are being flown to Perth on privately chartered planes to spend months behind bars on minor charges, only to be released unsentenced. Freedom of information documents obtained by WAtoday showed 183 children were caught up in the process in 2017, with many eligible to be bailed by local police, but unable to identify a responsible adult into whose custody they could be released. For a Broome child aged 10 to 14, it costs tax payers on average $33,000 in detention costs and around $11,000 for a privately chartered flight, and takes the young person away from their family, school and local support networks for an average of five weeks. The same process for a South Hedland child aged 15 to 17, usually costs $55,000 in detention costs and $9,100 for a privately chartered plane, with the child spending seven weeks locked up. The action is a result of the state only having one youth prison - Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Canning Vale - inadequate bail options for vulnerable regional children who cannot identify a responsible adult, and laws requiring children spend as little time possible in local police station lock-ups.


Asked what the state government was doing to keep regional children out of custody, Corrective Services Minister Fran Logan spruiked Banksia Hill as a place that provided educational, recreation and rehabilitative programs for young people. His comments are amid a report that showed in 2017-18 one in every four children at the centre did not receive an education, with an assault occurring every 10 days, and a child self-harming every two days. A Supreme Court of Western Australia ruling in March, also offered a rare insight into life inside WA's only youth detention centre, revealing an 11-year-old boy had suffered a fungal infection, and contracted scabies and lice due to “harsh conditions” at Banksia Hill earlier this year. On average, 148 youths were in detention on any given day in 2017-18. More than two-thirds were Aboriginal, with some from Indigenous communities in the north west where the average annual income for a person is around $16,000, and $45,760 for a household, according to the 2016 Census. Trauma and suicide expert, Gerry Georgatos, said WA’s ‘draconian justice laws’ meant the government was spending more on criminalising a regional child for a minor offence, than it would cost to provide local, wrap-around services for them and their family.


“It’s unfathomable, it is impossible ... to even suggest that there is no responsible member in any community, no matter how small, that a child [eligible for bail] could be left with rather than be sent to Perth,” he said. “We can’t even get the small social reforms right, we can’t get bail laws right, we can’t get social supports right. “What would that sort of money have done if it was spent on the youth police up there being able to be resourced to help the young ones, or for social respite workers to be able to take children into their care and support them?” Banksia Hill Detention Centre. Figures obtained by WAtoday revealed of the 183 regional children taken to or from Banksia Hill Detention Centre in 2017, an average stay was between 9 and 41 days depending on their region, before a child was released unsentenced by the courts*. Unsentenced typically means the child received a community based supervision order, was eventually released on bail, or a magistrate ruled their time in custody awaiting their court date was punishment enough, and released them. Unsentenced regional children likely represented a large portion of the 362 regional transports to and from Banksia Hill that year, assuming most children required two trips, one to Perth, and one to return to a regional location.


One in every five regional children was transported by a privately chartered plane, from areas such as Carnarvon, Karratha, Kununurra, Meekatharra, Port Hedland and Warburton. It costs around $977 a day to hold a child at Banksia Hill. Children from the Kimberley and Pilbara spent the most average time in custody only to be released unsentenced, at 41 days and 31 days respectively. In 2019, the number of regional children being transported to and from Banksia Hill is on track to increase from 362 in 2017 to around 400. A Department of Justice spokeswoman said if a child did not have a responsible adult to be bailed to, the agency was obliged to fly them to Banksia Hill to reduce the time they spend in a WA Police lock-up facility. “In instances where a young person is remanded in custody, it is essential they spend the least amount of time possible in a WA Police lock-up facility, pursuant of the Young Offenders Act,” she said.


“Using a commercial or chartered flight is often the most viable option, particularly in regional and remote areas.” The department said it managed 92 per cent of the children involved in the justice system within the community, while the remaining eight per cent were behind bars. Minister Logan, did not answer questions about whether the state government was considering building a regional youth detention centre, but said the Labor government was working to improve the system. WA Corrective Services Minister Fran Logan Credit:AAP “When we took office, I was cognisant that improvements were needed to manage youth involved with the justice system better, which is why we have introduced a whole range of new strategies and initiatives including the Kimberley Juvenile Justice Strategy,” Mr Logan said. “It’s not just about responding to calls for keeping juveniles on country – which we know has its benefits, but it’s also about prevention and diversion initiatives. “Last month I was able to take part in the first ever pilot program that emergency services career and volunteer officers run,” he said.

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