Joy Burch is relishing hitting a KPI:
The number of nights spent in custody by those in the youth justice system fell by 22 per cent in the past year, an encouraging sign of the efficacy of the Government’s focus on early intervention and diversion programs, Minister for Children and Young People Joy Burch said.
Community Services Directorate data shows the total number of days young people had spent at Bimberi Youth Justice Centre in 2011-12 was 8,347 and in 2012-13 it reduced to 6,525.
Ms Burch said this follows similarly encouraging data produced by the Directorate earlier this year, which showed show that since 2011, when the average population in Bimberi was 23.3 young people, the average population has fallen by almost 20 per cent.
One does wonder what distortionary effects such a single indicator in isolation is having on the rest of the youth justice sector.