Page 1334 - Week 05 - Thursday, 31 May 2007
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dealt with. It is not going to be sufficient, because we need the directions and any regulations that are made under this bill in order for it all to work properly, but when the opposition looked at this bill we looked for, firstly, protection of the public; secondly, protection of prison officers and those who work in a prison environment; and, thirdly, and importantly, the humane treatment of prisoners and remandees in the territory. They are the three main concerns and the three things that this bill needs to balance.
We believe it provides a framework. It is in some ways policy neutral in the sense of how it is applied. There will be plenty of scope in the application through directions that are made and through the individual decisions made under this act and under subordinate legislation as a result of this act. That will be where the real test comes. How this is applied in practice will determine whether or not the public are kept safe, whether or not the prison guards and prison officers are kept safe and have a safe and reasonable working environment and whether prisoners and remandees are treated in a reasonable and humane way in accordance with the law of the territory, which includes the Human Rights Act.
We still have concerns about the prison and how that will work. We think some of the issues in terms of the management of this prison that is being built will come from the fact that this is such a small jurisdiction. The question that I have raised and will continue to raise is: how will we ensure that the breadth of programs that we currently pay for in New South Wales for our prisoners will be able to be provided in the ACT when we are talking about only a few hundred prisoners in the system and about one prison?
It is more difficult, I would argue, to put some of these programs in place, whether they be programs specifically for women, indigenous prisoners, prisoners with disabilities or any of the other diverse range of prisoners and remandees that we will have in our prison and in our remand centre that forms part of it. We have concerns that we will be able to manage that in a humane way where those kind of programs are delivered properly, that our prisoners do not suffer as a result of that and then, importantly, that the community do not suffer when some of those people return to the community.
I and the opposition take the view that rehabilitation is a crucial element of our corrections system. It needs serious resources and the question that the government has not been able to answer yet is: how in such a small jurisdiction, where we are seeking to essentially do everything that the New South Wales system does now and that we now pay for and buy from several different prisons across New South Wales, will we be able to provide that level of service in an effective and humane way but also in an efficient way that does not end up costing the taxpayers of the ACT much more than we pay now?
I made the point in my last speech on an MPI that that is a real concern. The government assures us that the recurrent costs will be around the same or less. I have severe doubts about that, for the reasons that I have outlined. Even on an issue like the separation of gang members, we simply do not know how that will be done properly. I understand that in New South Wales where there are members of notorious gangs in prison they can be put into different prisons and separated in that way, and there are
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