Tuesday, 30 April 2024

Corrections system

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:41): (499) My question is to the Minister for Corrections. Minister, the Western Plains prison has signed a $36 million contract for another 12 months of security. Sources have advised the Shadow Minister for Corrections in the other place that the union was consulted about moving prisoners from Beechworth, Dhurringile and another prison to Western Plains. Minister, are you making plans to move prisoners to Western Plains, or will it remain empty?

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:42): I thank Mr Davis for his question and his interest in our corrections system, in particular our corrections system infrastructure. As a government we make no apologies for investing in modern, new facilities that can accommodate prisoners and keep the community safe but also give these prisoners the opportunity to turn their lives around, because we know that will make us all safer in the long term. We will continue to invest in Western Plains as well as our other facilities. In terms of the configuration of our prison system, on a bright note, the number of people in our corrections system is down by over 20 per cent since March 2020, and that is a good outcome. But of course in terms of the future system configuration of our facilities, like we did at Malmsbury, no doubt in the future we will have to decommission older facilities and utilise newer facilities – that happens – or new units within prisons. Today I do not have an announcement to make, but it is great to see that we are a government that do not just talk about investing in our corrections system, we are actually investing in it.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:43): I am not sure the minister actually answered a very simple question: are you making plans to move prisoners, or will it remain empty? We do not actually have an answer to that question. But nonetheless I ask a supplementary. Last year the corrections commissioner advised the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee that Western Plains prison had no operational funding and was never likely to get any. Why are you spending, therefore, $36 million a year to keep Western Plains prison empty?

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:43): Thank you, Mr Davis, for that supplementary question. I think it is very clear that Western Plains is being utilised as a high-quality training facility to onboard new corrections staff. Most recently I talked about how it was utilised during the Beaufort fires. It served a fantastic purpose, where prisoners from Langi Kal Kal were successfully evacuated from the fire zone into Western Plains and transferred back. It is an important part of the future of our system. It is an important part of our system, and we will have further announcements to make down the track.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:44): I move:

That the minister’s answer be taken into account on the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to.