Thursday, 20 June 2024

Western Plains Correctional Centre

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:10): (575) My question is to the Minister for Corrections. Minister, at the recent Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearing it was confirmed that the Western Plains prison remains empty and is costing Victorians tens of millions of dollars to keep empty prison cells at the right temperature. Minister, crime figures released today highlight Victoria’s escalating violent crime crisis. How can the Allan Labor government justify spending over $35 million to keep empty prison cells cool while cutting crime prevention programs?

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:10): I thank Mr Mulholland for his question and his interest in our corrections systems and for the opportunity to share the news about our infrastructure investments across our system. I think it was a topic of discussion yesterday. I will say that as a government we make no apologies for investing in, improving and modernising our criminal justice system, including our corrections system. We do have less people in our corrections system than we had pre pandemic; the number of people in custody overall is down 25 per cent. That is overall a good outcome. It shows that our crime prevention and our rehabilitation programs are working. You should be very familiar with this by now, Mr Mulholland, because you are paying attention to the statistics today. Our recidivism rate in Victoria is lower than the national average, and I am proud of that. That is because of the investments we have made in custodial facilities in giving people the chance to turn their lives around. Many people are taking that opportunity. Our centres of excellence are doing a good job of training people to get skills in some of those construction jobs – which I understand those opposite are quite envious of – so they can get employment upon release. I think that is important, because we have a situation where we have very low unemployment figures in Victoria, especially in regional Victoria, and a lot of people are able to secure a job upon leaving our custodial facilities. That is key, because employment is an important protective factor.

In relation to our facilities such as Western Plains, I think it is important to futureproof the systems. Like how when we closed Malmsbury we opened up our modern Cherry Creek facility, there will be an opportunity to close ageing facilities and open up our new Western Plains facility. I look forward to that announcement later this year.

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:12): Minister, with violent crime in Victoria increasing at alarming rates, with more victims in this state than at any time in history and people feeling unsafe in their homes due to the explosion in aggravated burglaries, when will the Allan Labor government open the Western Plains prison and take violent offenders off the streets?

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:12): I thank Mr Mulholland for his supplementary. I think it is important to understand that as the corrections minister I do not make the decision of who enters our system, and in most instances we do not make a decision on who exits the system. They are decisions of our independent judiciary, who do have a very difficult and challenging job. It is my expectation that when people leave our facilities they leave reformed and better and rehabilitated and have the skills and protective factors in place to support their recovery, making sure that we are all safer. I do not have an announcement to make today, but I am committed to continuing to make investments and improvements to our corrections system. When I have an announcement, you will be one of the first to know, I am sure.