The state of Tasmania will have to pay out $75 million to 129 former Ashley Youth Detention Centre detainees if an in-principle settlement agreement is approved by the Supreme Court.
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Class action against the Tasmanian government commenced in August 2022 on behalf of former detainees, represented by Angela Sdrinis Legal, who claimed they had been abused at the centre between 1961 and 2019.
Detainees alleged the state had failed to take reasonable care in the selection and supervision of staff at the centre.
They said this resulted in staff being hired despite links to outlaw motorcycle gangs, or despite complaints of physical or sexual abuse of young people at the centre.
The claim also described instances of AYDC staff encouraging detainees to attack each other, and leaving younger or female inmates unsupervised and unprotected against older male inmates.
The claimed included allegations that staff:
- followed degrading strip-search procedures;
- forcibly applied scabies treatments that caused burns to detainees' bodies, including their genitals;
- failed to provide appropriate medical treatment;
- and used isolation and beatings as punishment tools.
Lead lawyer Angela Sdrinis on Friday afternoon advised the class action had progressed to a settlement of $75 million, subject to court approval.
"I am pleased that the matter has resolved in principle and that we have been able to give our clients a voice," she said.
"The government lawyers were provided with details of the allegations and impacts on each member of the class and I am satisfied that they were heard."
Ms Sdrinis said the settlement may take up to six months to be approved by the court, and then longer for the settlement funds to be distributed.
She said she hoped that all claims would be paid within 12 months.
Horrors inflicted upon former detention centre detainees were aired at the Commission of Inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse over a number of hearings in 2021 and 2022.
The government has resisted numerous calls over recent years to shut the Ashley Youth Detention Centre immediately, and has set a closure deadline of mid-2026.
It declined to comment on the settlement on Friday.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
