After six months work Noosa MP Sandy Bolton said it was “deeply disappointing“ the bipartisan Youth Justice Reform Parliamentary Select Committee she chaired failed to adopt its interim report, but was pleased the report was now in the public domain, which followed the House last week dissolving the committee.
With three MPs each from the Liberal National and Labor parties, the committee had been working towards the completion and tabling of an interim report which incorporated findings from 26 meetings, 13 public hearings, nine public briefings, 220 submissions and multiple site visits across Queensland.
Ms Bolton spoke in Parliament last week regarding the untenable situation that had developed, with the failure of the committee to adopt the report titled ’Inquiry into ongoing reforms to the youth justice system and support for victims of crime’, even after multiple extensions beyond its March deadline.
“As Chair, I have endeavoured every step of the way to work patiently, impartially, respectfully and collaboratively with both sides of the House to achieve a balanced, nonpartisan report on many contentious issues. This in an extremely difficult environment of heightened media and politicking with the upcoming elections.”
In Parliament Premier Steven Miles accused the LNP of putting political interests before community safety in blocking the release of the draft report, which he said led to the dissolution of the bipartisan committee and release of the report.
LNP leader David Crisafulli asked the Premier if the committee had been dissolved because the government didn’t want to remove ’detention as a last resort’ after reinstating it in 2016, or because it didn’t want victims of crime in the media before the election?
“I want to see the report of the committee,“ Mr Miles replied.
“I know they worked hard. I know the Member for Noosa worked hard in the face of very difficult treatment by those opposite. All I want is to see their report so we can consider their report and start implementing recommendations.“
The report contains 60 wide-ranging recommendations, the first being “That the Queensland Government reform the Youth Justice sector and Act to ensure there are consequences for action and put the rights of victims above the rights of offenders“.
Ms Bolton said prior to commencing the drafting of the interim report, the committee had workshopped the content on three occasions.
“Even though there was consensus within the committee that Queensland’s youth justice system is not meeting community’s expectations with regard to community safety and the rehabilitation of children and young people and that earlier intervention is required, MPs views on how best to address this have proved polarising. As a consequence, I sought to achieve compromises in an effort to reach a bipartisan agreement, which consistently has been asked for by Queenslanders whether it has been at public hearings or otherwise.”
“These compromises have led to five or six recommendations that required further work, and I had hoped these would have been refined should my request to Parliament to revert to standard voting rules have been granted,” she said.
“This from my understanding was the only way to ensure that the interim report would become public as expected by Queenslanders.“
Since the release of the draft report to committee members a month ago, Ms Bolton had repeatedly asked them to articulate in writing what they wished to delete, amend or insert into the report, including recommendations, for consideration.
Where received, they have been incorporated, however there have also been broad statements of objection which have been difficult to translate into specific amendments with requests to the writers to articulate further either ignored or brushed off, Ms Bolton said.
“Despite the workshops, multiple meetings and extensions over a number of weeks to consider and approve the draft interim report, at the adoption meeting the report failed to achieve a majority under the current voting rules, which was deeply saddening. This, even though the ability was still there to raise any concerns via a statement of reservation or dissenting report, which is standard in all committees.”
“Of note, I believe the vast majority of the 55 recommendations would have been approved as they had not been raised as requiring amendments or of concern.
“That we have not delivered a bipartisan agreement as needed by Queenslanders, has been deeply disappointing.
“An outcome where there is no report tabled, especially given that we have developed and agreed on many substantive comments and recommendations, is unacceptable. It is for these reasons that I regretfully stood to seek the parliament’s support to amend the voting rules.“
The voting rules for the Youth Justice Reform Committee provide that any question like the adoption of the interim report recommendations must be decided by a majority of the votes of committee members present and voting, plus one other member. This differs from the usual parliamentary committee voting rule that a motion be decided by a simple majority.
“This has been one of the hardest requests I have ever made in Chamber, as I genuinely believed that with MPs focused on greater safety for our communities, a bipartisan approach would be, as committed to, achieved,“ MS Bolton said. “Even if there were components disagreed to, at least to ensure that the interim report was tabled would reflect this intent. It would also have shown transparently the areas agreed, as well disagreed to, and the reasons why there is some urgency with recommendations that needed to be implemented as soon as possible. There is no valid reason to block, stall or put barriers to this information reaching public domain.”
Instead of the request being granted, Leader of the House, Mick de Brenni MP moved a motion to dissolve the Youth Justice Reform Committee, which was carried 49 to 30, with the Chairs draft report tabled last week by the Clerk of Parliament, making it available in the Tabled Papers database on the Parliaments website or via bit.ly/YouthJusticeChairsdraftreport
“There has been over six months of work by Parliamentary staff and MPs at cost to taxpayers, efforts of all who submitted including victims and our frontliners, as well the many who have attended public hearings. Even though I am disappointed at what has occurred, that the results of this work is now public is positive news, and I look forward to seeing action as a result from Government in the interests of greater safety now, and into the future,” Ms Bolton said.
Ms Bolton said her request to amend the voting rules would not diminish her efforts regarding broader committee reform, but in fact, reiterates the importance of moving to a system that works as a norm for agreement, versus disagreement.
“You can only do this with practice, and as we have seen, doing so infrequently makes it difficult for some MPs to move from combative conduct to working collaboratively. This is especially important when it comes to such critical issues such as youth crime, which if not addressed appropriately, can lead to even greater trauma for our communities,” she said.
Ms Bolton has now been appointed to the Community Safety and Legal Affairs Committee, along with the Community Support and Services Committee.
To view a copy of Ms Bolton’s full speech on Thursday 17 April, visit bit.ly/BOLTONMPSPEECHYJ or her Noosa 360 site. Read more on P10.
