CANBERRA OBSERVED Despite bumbling, youth detention inquiry is needed

The first major decision in the new term of the Turnbull Government was made in haste, without consultation and based on a visceral response to an ABC TV program. Co-royal commissioners Margaret White and Mick Gooda The Royal Commission into Juvenile Justice has been almost universally welcomed as a means of getting to the heart of revelations raised on the ABC’s Four Corners of mistreatment including tear gassing, hooding and restraint chairs. But the calling of the royal commission has reflected badly on the Government, with its selected commissioner having to resign even before he started. In fact most commentators…