Page 1659 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 4 May 2010
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MR STANHOPE: It is very ironic, but I find it warming.
Mr Doszpot: You’ve got a monopoly on human rights, Jon, have you?
MR STANHOPE: It warms me, given our commitment to human rights and our determination to carry through with the construction of the Alexander Maconochie Centre in the first place. I see the construction of the Alexander Maconochie Centre as one of the great achievements of this government. It was something that our opponents did not have the guts to do. They did not have the guts to build a prison, let alone a human rights compliant, world’s best practice prison. They did not have the courage, the capacity or the will—because they know they are the great dog whistle blowers. They know there is always cheap politics to be had in getting the dog whistle out on corrections and prisoners.
Mr Smyth: You’ve been going for 12½ minutes and you haven’t defended the minister once.
MR STANHOPE: At its most fundamental and at its most base, that is the subliminal message here in this motion.
Mr Smyth: You haven’t defended the minister once. Go on—defend Simon. Say something positive about the minister.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, members!
MR STANHOPE: This is a sort of subliminal dog whistle, because prisoners are always fair game. As they stand and beat their chests and pretend to be standing up for prisoners and prisoner rights at Alexander Maconochie Centre, they are actually doing no such thing.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Stanhope, could you resume your seat for a moment, please. I have called opposition members to order several times and they are ignoring my request to keep order. The next time somebody yells across the chamber at Mr Stanhope and does not allow him to speak in silence, I will warn you. Okay? So I am telling you that the next time someone speaks in that manner I will warn you.
MR STANHOPE: As Mr Corbell said, this is a new venture for governments in the ACT. We have never had a prison before. This is the first time there has been a prison in the ACT. It is a most complex undertaking. Rather than being censured and condemned, Simon Corbell deserves to be congratulated and commended on the work that he has done in leading the establishment, the institution and the running of a prison within the territory. We always knew it was going to be difficult. We have never done it before. Nobody in this place has done it. No minister in any previous government has done it. It is a difficult, complex, fraught area of government, and it has been done by the minister to an exceedingly high level.
Of course there are going to be issues. As the minister just said now, there is not a prison in Australia where there is not contraband. We do what we can. We look for
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