A Meander Valley community group is calling for the Ashley Youth Detention Centre to be transformed into a facility that serves and strengthens the region, rather than being redeveloped into a prison.
The No Meander Valley Prison group says the site, currently operating as a youth detention centre, could instead be repurposed to support industries and activities that already define the area, such as agriculture, tourism and the arts.
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“Our goal is to make sure that there isn’t any prison at the Ashley Youth Detention Centre and that we have a facility there which is going to benefit the whole community,” says group spokesperson Liz Walker.
Previous state governments have proposed that the site be redeveloped to include a remand centre, a women’s prison and a low‑security facility. But the group argues that the region’s character, economy and infrastructure are better suited to alternative uses.
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Walker said the community wants “a place where we have got positive role models to expand the opportunities for the next generation in the Meander Valley,” and believes investment should build on the area’s strengths. She suggests the site could host agricultural innovation projects, arts programs, or other community‑focused facilities that “uplift those around it so we can look forward to the future.”
The group believes these alternatives would align more closely with the values of Meander Valley, which is known for its creative community, scenic landscapes and productive farmland. They fear that any expansion of the detention centre into a prison would detract from these qualities, having a profound and adverse impact on the community.
Walker said the community had shown strong support for a different future for the site. A petition opposing the prison plan gathered more than 1,000 signatures, with about 98 per cent from local postcodes. “We could have got more signatures if we had continued,” she says.
The No Meander Valley Prison group is urging the state government to engage with the community in shaping the future of the Ashley site. Walker says that, ideally, the government would work with locals “to enhance the areas that we are already successful in” rather than impose a correctional facility.
