Thursday, 23 February 2023

Ministers statements: youth justice system

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:14): I rise to update the house on the work our government and our partners are doing to provide training and skills to young people to help them turn their lives around. I recently visited the Streat Cafe at Parkville – for those of you that may not know, it is a short walk from the 58 tram – launched by former minister Ben Carroll in the other place. I had the pleasure of meeting Rebecca Scott, one of the co-founders of the organisation. About a third of the trainees at Streat have had contact with the youth justice system. Bec and the whole team at Streat have done an incredible job over the past decade providing skills, opportunities and, most importantly, a sense of belonging to thousands of young people. Some of them have been given a chance by someone for the first time in their lives.

While I was there I met a young man, who I will not name, who is currently at the Parkville youth justice precinct and has been training to work as a barista at the cafe, appropriately supervised of course by dedicated youth justice staff that motivate and support young people so they can participate in such a program and develop vital skills that will help them become more job ready. Over the past five years this government has directly invested over $125 million in youth justice diversion.

Separately, our investment in free TAFE is just another example of government policy facilitating opportunities for young people in our state to gain the skills and experiences – thank you, Minister Tierney – that allow them to find meaningful employment and put their best foot forward in life. Through these programs and through our investment in jobs and skills through the incredible work of social enterprises such as Streat, young people in Victoria are given the best opportunities to be job ready and turn their lives around. That is something we can all be proud of.