Page 999 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 21 April 2021
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this is a much better approach to take. It is a much more preventative approach to crime. I think it is much better to spend money in that way than to simply try and catch people at the end after they have committed an offence and process them through the court and put them in jail. We will continually seek to emphasise that area of investment and make sure that we are keeping our community as safe as possible.
Mrs Kikkert provided extensive commentary on the corrections system and, whilst that is Minister Gentleman’s responsibility, I did want to share with the Assembly one element of history and context that Mrs Kikkert did not provide in her remarks. She spoke extensively about her disagreement with the location of the women in the Alexander Maconochie Centre. I think this is a really important discussion and one that I have certainly spent a lot of time thinking about. Mrs Kikkert, when she spoke glowingly of the accommodation that the women had been in previously, did not mention the fact that, through a significant increase in the female population in the AMC, there are, in fact, a significant number of women being housed permanently in the management unit of the AMC.
There are actually two places where women are being housed because of the increase in population; and that meant that they were both in what I consider to be unsuitable long-term accommodation for women. That also meant that that space could not be used as it was intended, which was for disciplinary holding for those male detainees who had breached the rules in the AMC. A really important part of managing a facility like that is having that ability to provide something like the management unit. So that meant that the government was forced to take a decision.
I will maintain that it was better to have the women in one place together and not have those people living in the management unit. Yes, and we do need to continue to take steps to change that; and there is planning going on. That is now Minister Gentleman’s responsibility. I will not speak to that any further but I think it is important that that context is recorded in light of the lopsided observations made by Mrs Kikkert.
I also did note the comments made by Ms Lee during the CMTEDT line of the debate yesterday, where she spoke extensively about the justice portfolio. She spoke once again of the report on family violence measures, which we have debated in this place before, and she continued to put the view that it sat on the minister’s desk for up to 12 months. I would take this opportunity to correct the record and point out to Ms Lee that I became the Attorney-General in early November. The final report was provided to government on 14 December; and it was made publicly available in February.
We have committed to dealing with the recommendations of that report. So Ms Lee’s inaccurate comments, I think, are unfair. She knows that it is not the case, the way she described it, and I think it is important to reflect that in this discussion as well.
The Justice and Community Safety line of this budget is an important and broad element of the budget; and I do commend this element of the budget to the Assembly. I think there are important investments in here that do enhance our justice system in the ACT and will continue to contribute to improve community safety.
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