The Hon. AILEEN MacDONALD (17:43): In New South Wales we are drifting toward a model of youth justice that punishes before it understands. While it may be politically convenient to focus on law and order, we must ask this question of ourselves: What kind of justice system do we want for our children? Recently I travelled to Spain and Scotland on a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association tour to explore alternatives. What I witnessed was nothing short of transformative. In Spain I visited three re-education centres run by the Diagrama Foundation. There, young people are not locked away and forgotten; they are supported through trauma‑responsive care, education and family reintegration. Their sentences are longer—not for punishment, but to allow time for real healing.

A young person might begin in a secure unit and then transition to an open regime where they return each night to the centre after working or studying in the community. That kind of through‑care supports reintegration and reduces reoffending. In fact, in Murcia, the recidivism rate for young people in Diagrama centres is just 13.6 per cent over six years. Compare that with the revolving door we often see here. What stood out even more is the role of the judiciary. In Spain, each district has a children's judge, who takes an active role in the ongoing assessment of children in the re-education centres. The judge visits the child every two months and receives detailed reports. That helps ensure the sentence is not only proportionate but also effective, both for that child in the moment and for future decisions. Can one imagine our judiciary playing such a committed, personal role in the development and rehabilitation of young people in custody? That level of care and accountability would be transformative.

In Scotland I met with frontline professionals who take a "needs not deeds" approach, including in the Children's Hearings System, which is centred around the young person and their family. I visited a Kibble secure centre, where there are no guards patrolling the units. Instead, social workers and psychologists live and breathe the work alongside the young people. It is humane, it is rights‑based and it works. I also met with the director of The Promise Scotland, Fiona Duncan, who is leading systemic change to ensure that every child grows up loved, safe and respected. That journey began 60 years ago with the Kilbrandon Report—a landmark moment when Scotland decided children in trouble are first and foremost children in need.

I contrast that with what happens in New South Wales. Here, we are quicker to lock up a 14‑year‑old than we are to ask why they are in crisis. There are record numbers of children on remand, many from out‑of‑home care. They are criminalised for behaviours rooted in trauma, poverty and neglect. As Anne Hollonds, the National Children's Commissioner, has warned, "The help they needed never came." We continue to fail to bring that help. This Government must do more than patch holes in a broken system. We need a blueprint: a whole‑of‑community response that intervenes early, diverts where possible, and builds strong children rather than repairing broken adults.

Tasmania has started that journey. Why not New South Wales? We should be building centres that resemble schools, not prisons. We should be recruiting social workers, not more security guards. We should be measuring outcomes, not occupancy rates. Let us be clear: None of this is about excusing crime; it is about preventing it. It is about protecting communities through rehabilitation, not retribution. This issue is urgent, it is moral and it is ours to fix. At the end of the day, it takes a village to raise a child—and we are that village. I commend these ideas to the House.