The Sydney Morning Herald NT fails to deliver on juvenile justice Date: 08/07/2000 By KENDALL HILL A core condition of the Federal Government's $5 million deal on mandatory sentencing - establishing diversionary programs for juvenile offenders - has not and will not be met, according to the Northern Territory Government. Almost three months after the deal was done, the office of the Territory's Chief Minister, Mr Burke, has said there is no need for any of the money to be spent on new schemes aimed at keeping young offenders out of the courts. The stand is a direct contradiction of the joint statement issued by Mr Howard and Mr Burke on April 10, which pledged: "The Commonwealth will make $5 million per annum available for a number of measures including diversionary programs for juveniles in the Northern Territory." The two leaders specifically promised "more community-based diversionary programs for urban, rural and remote communities". But the Territory Government now says the money will go to local police to help them cope with their increased workload. "We don't suffer from a lack of places in diversionary programs ... and I think, by and large, the diversionary programs are already being funded," said a spokesman for Mr Burke, who is touring London with the Prime Minister's centenary of Federation troupe. "A good deal of the $5 million will equip police to be able to deal with the increasing workload and increasing resources that they will need to be able to divert people," he said. News of the Territory's stand sparked a flurry of calls yesterday between Liberal backbencher Ms Danna Vale - a key figure among the rebel Coalition MPs whose strong stance against the Territory's mandatory sentencing laws helped force the compromise deal - and officers in the Prime Minister's department and the Northern Territory Government. While she said she was concerned at the development, Ms Vale stressed the exact details of the Howard-Burke agreement were still being hammered out, but she had been assured the Territory would not get any of the promised $5 million this year until Mr Howard's office was satisfied with the outcome. There are 21 programs in the Territory, all run by community or non-profit organisations to provide skills and activities for young offenders diverted from jail sentences. The new police discretionary powers to divert offenders from courts at the pre-charge stage for minor offences, or post-charge for more serious crimes, is expected to swell demand for the programs. While the Territory Government is maintaining it has enough programs in place, some operators of existing programs claim they will be unable to function without additional funds. "We can't continue in this way unless we get funding," said Ms Joanna Caramella, Northern Territory executive officer of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, which runs a three-month course for young offenders. Mr Burke's office said it expected the agreement to be complete within a fortnight. A spokesman defended the delay in implementing the substance of the April 10 sentencing deal, saying precise legislative limits had to be set to avoid "an enormous bloody s---fight". Another key aspect of the deal - the raising of the adult age from 17 to 18 for purposes of sentencing - was completed "on urgency" shortly after the Howard-Burke agreement was announced. This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. -- ********************************** 'Click' to protect the rainforest: Make the Rainforest Site your homepage! http://www.therainforestsite.com/ ********************************** ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
