Youth justice—On Track to Thrive program

Dr Tony Buti replied: (1)–(2) I thank the member for Darling Range for his question and for his strong advocacy in this area. It was great to join the member for Darling Range last week in Armadale when we announced a very exciting new initiative that I am sure the member for Geraldton will also welcome. The pilot On Track to Thrive program is a really exciting project. It is about trying to divert young people from the criminal justice system. There is a two-year pilot program in Armadale and Geraldton. There are 25 participants in each program. It is a $7.8 million investment by the Cook Labor government. Most of the kids have been brought to the attention of the authorities by the police. They have seen the behaviour of these five-year-old to nine-year-old kids and are worried that their behaviour will lead them into the criminal justice system when they reach the age of criminal responsibility. The whole idea is to have early intervention. The empirical evidence clearly shows that if you intervene early, you can change a child's life and their life journey, and that is what this program is all about. Through this investment, the Departments of Education, Health and Communities will be involved with the families and the communities, so it is a wraparound service. The Department of Education will be providing dedicated staff to work alongside the children in schools to ensure that they attend school, are able to engage in class, receive proper instruction and succeed at school. The Department of Health will be engaged in providing health screenings and services and helping families navigate the health system. Unfortunately, a lot of these kids have cognitive issues, so it is great that they can be screened at an early age and receive the assistance they need. Also, Aboriginal community–controlled organisations will be engaged to help the families become really good parents. They can help those families that are having trouble with their kids and provide services so we can keep those kids on the straight and narrow. I was asked at the press conference how I will judge success. I will judge success in 12 years time when I can go to the year 12 graduation of the kids in the program. That is what success will be. I think this program is the first of its kind in Australia to this degree. It is really exciting. It is about a government thinking about the future and thinking, "Let's be smart." Of course, the old criticism that we often receive from the opposition—"What are you doing to lock up people?"—is very important, but we want these kids not to be involved in that. We do not want them to be involved in the criminal justice system, so we are intervening early. It is all about helping kids, families and communities.