Royal commission: former guard denies then admits grabbing Dylan Voller around neck
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Version 0 of 1. The royal commission delved deep into evidence on poor training and staffing issues in Northern Territory juvenile detention centres on Wednesday, on the same day new recruits began specialised training as part of a government overhaul of the sector. The examination of working conditions, many of which are being addressed as the inquiry runs, followed testimony from a former guard who denied and then admitted that he grabbed Dylan Voller around the neck. The inquiry into the protection and detention of children in the Northern Territory, currently holding a public hearing in Alice Springs, questioned two former senior youth workers, Derek Tasker and Barry Clee. It heard of long-running issues with short-staffing in the Alice Springs juvenile detention facility, minimal training, an over-reliance on casual and overtime work and failure to pay guards for up to 11 weeks. Tasker, a former officer in charge at the centre who now runs officer training, said there was no specialised training given to officers on how to deal with detainees who arrived under the effects of drugs or withdrawal from drugs. Tasker also added to testimony from another former officer that there were not enough female officers on staff to ensure appropriate supervision and treatment of female detainees. Barry Clee, also a former officer in charge, told the commission on Wednesday officers did not have any specialist training to deal with at-risk detainees and he relied on their observation skills. No medical practitioners or mental health workers were on site at any juvenile facility. Clee said it sometimes felt like his efforts to bring staffing issues to the attention of superiors were ignored, and he agreed to provide the commission with details of his efforts to garner increased support and resources during his tenure. The issues with staffing levels spoke to some of the concerns flagged by counsel assisting, Tony McAvoy, on Monday about “a culture where bullying, lack of support, chronic and constant short-staffing and woeful training are the norm”. “The youth justice officers themselves will tell of the great challenges they face working in a system which does not give them the tools to do their job – support and rehabilitate the young people in their charge,” he said. The hearing, which is already behind schedule, came on the same day the Northern Territory government announced the beginning of specialised training for 25 youth justice officers, including 11 women, to work in detention centres. The recruits will embark on six weeks of training to focus on rehabilitation and reducing recidivism, said the minister for territory families, Dale Wakefield, as part of the government’s overhaul of the youth justice sector. The government announced an $18m overhaul of the sector last month and pledged to build a new detention facility in Darwin to move detainees out of the current centre – widely considered inadequate and inappropriate. The Northern Territory government has made no secret of the difficulty it faces in dealing with the demands of the commission while simultaneously acting on the youth justice crisis. A verbal promise by the former chief minister Adam Giles committed the NT government to at least $32m in costs as well as the work of cooperating with the commission. Government departments and legal teams have frequently worked days, nights and weekends in order to comply with requests for documentation. The former Labor minister for corrections Gerry McCarthy, who was minister at the time of the incidents discussed this week, is scheduled to appear on Friday. His CLP successor, John Elferink, will appear in Darwin this month. On Wednesday the commission also heard strident denials, and then an admission, from Tasker that he had ever grabbed a detainee around the throat. Under questioning from a lawyer acting for former detainee Jamal Turner, Tasker repeatedly denied allegations that he grabbed the detainee around the neck and lifted him up, thrusting him against the wall. He also denied that it was a “particular practice” he often took on when he lost his temper. The lawyer, Stewart O’Connell, then asked if he had grabbed Dylan Voller around the neck and thrust him hard against a wall on 12 December 2010. “I deny that allegation,” Tasker said. “Do you agree that in relation to that incident … there is clear CCTV evidence of you doing that?” O’Connell responded. “There was an incident,” Tasker said. “But if you’re referring to the one that went through the court I always maintained my innocence and I was found not guilty in the magistrate’s court and the supreme court.” Tasker was later asked again by a lawyer for another witness to say if he had grabbed Voller by the neck, not whether he had been convicted of an assault. Tasker then admitted he did “to control [Voller’s] neck and stop him from spitting”. Tasker also strenuously denied separate allegations by an unnamed detainee that he grabbed the boy by the neck and swung him against the wall in the toilet. Tasker accepted the three separate allegations were similar, but said they were “untrue” and he denied them all. He also denied he and other guards rushed into Turner’s cell after Turner was kicking the door. The royal commission is due to deliver an interim report in March. The public hearing continues. |