At least six detainees climbed onto the roof of the Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Canning Vale on Monday afternoon.
Detainees on the roof of Banksia Hill Detention Centre during a disturbance. (ABC News: Andrew O’Connor)
Aerial footage showed a group of children ripping off air vents and bits of metal roofing and throwing projectiles at guards below.
A number of young people could be seen on the roof. (ABC News)
One was seen letting off a fire extinguisher, while another brandished a megaphone.
Banksia Hill is a maximum-security facility that holds boys and girls aged between 10 and 17 years old.
The incident began on Monday afternoon. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
The Department of Justice confirmed Corrective Services officers were “responding to an incident involving a group of young people”.
Two detainees on the roof of Banksia Hill Detention Centre. (ABC News)
“Officers are working to resolve the situation safely,” a spokesperson said.
The situation was still unresolved at 6.30pm.Â
There have been several disturbances at Banksia Hill over the years.
Detainees on the roof of Banksia Hill Detention Centre. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
Dozens of detainees took part in a riot in 2013, while in 2017, officers with shields and helmets used stun grenades and pepper spray to restore order after a three-hour rampage.
On New Year’s Eve in 2022, two buildings were set alight after a riot.
Asking the WA government the hardest questions on youth detention
And in 2023, armed officers moved in on the facility’s roof to quell a 12-hour riot which then-premier Mark McGowan described as a “form of terrorism”.
Conditions at Bankisa Hill had seemingly improved over the last year or so, with young people spending significantly longer out of their cells and engaging in rehabilitation and activities.
Behaviour unacceptable: Minister
It comes days after the state government committed additional funding and released concept designs for a new detention centre to accommodate high-risk youth detainees.
This cohort is currently housed in Unit 18, inside the maximum-security adult Casuarina Prison.
Inmates climbed on to the roof of the detention centre on Monday. (ABC News)
Expected to be completed in 2028, the $156 million facility will be located next to Banksia Hill Detention Centre.
Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia said the new 30-bed centre would be “world-class” and help reduce juvenile offending.
One detainee on the roof had a megaphone. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
Mr Papalia said managing youth justice continued to be a “challenging task” for the government.
“This sort of violent and disruptive behaviour is unacceptable,” he said of Monday’s disturbance.
“It shows the challenging task confronted by our youth custodial officers and reaffirms the need for a purpose-designed facility to house the state’s most high-risk youth, as announced by our government last week.”
At least six detainees reached the Banksia Hill roof. (ABC News)
The Commissioner for Children and Young People, Jacqueline McGowan-Jones, said she understood one of the young people had an upsetting phone call and decided to get on the roof, with others following him up.
Ms McGowan-Jones said there was a desperate need for a new facility.
“We still have a lack of services available and individualised plans for each of the children and young people about how to de-escalate them when they’re distressed.
“[Banksia Hill] is not fit for purpose, we do need new infrastructure.
Detainees on the roof of Banksia Hill Detention Centre during a disturbance. (ABC News: Andrew O’Connor)
“This new centre is really needed but more than that is the relational security that comes through the better relationships … between the staff and the children.”
Ms McGowan-Jones stressed the importance of children and young people being able to have access to immediate counselling and supports.
“We need a facility that is really in that therapeutic space, we need those services,” she said.
Opposition digs in
Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said the latest disturbance is a symptom of the government’s “chronic mismanagement” of the youth detention and rehabilitation system.
Two children have died, but experts say WA has yet to solve its youth detention problem
“There’s no other thing you can say about it — they have failed,” he told ABC Radio Perth.
“They’ve failed those children. They failed those inmates and they’ve failed the men and women that need to take care of them.
“The fact that it’s going to take over half a decade to deliver [the new facility] shows how little priority they have given to this issue.
“We’ll have a racetrack at Burswood Park before we will have these upgraded facilities. That’s not good enough.”