Page 4345 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 22 September 2010
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so by the ideological drive that this government has in putting the human rights of prisoners above the safety of prison officers. Not just on the issue of drugs but more broadly in the management of the centre, I would like to make it very clear that the opposition’s beef with everything to do with corrections is with the government, not with corrections officers. If Mr Corbell bothered to talk openly with the front-line staff, he would realise that they have some very real concerns about the way that this government is proceeding and the direction that it is taking. They have some real concerns.
Quite clearly mistakes will be made, and occasionally you may have a bad apple in any organisation. But it is very clear that the government is taking this jail in the wrong direction. And that is at the expense of both the prisoners and the corrections officers.
Simon Corbell says that he is doing everything that he can to prevent drugs from entering the jail and that he is trying to prevent the prisoners from using drugs. It is difficult to believe that this is actually the case. It is difficult to believe anything that Simon Corbell says, to be honest. If you look at his track record of competence—if you have even a cursory look at his record as the minister, including as a planning minister—you will see that there is no reason to trust Simon Corbell in this regard. In fact, if you look at his track record and the government’s track record in corrections, you will see that they are a litany of failures. I will just cover them, because when we are talking about the prevalence of drugs in jail and some of the programs that the government is looking to introduce, including an NSP, it is important to see where they have gone wrong.
We saw human rights breaches and overcrowding at the Belconnen Remand Centre for years under this government. We saw the violent assault of corrections officers, including six officers requiring hospital treatment. You will remember that one, Mr Assistant Speaker Hargreaves. We had prisoners protesting on the roof of the Belconnen Remand Centre, and then Simon Corbell came out and prejudiced their case. He was condemned in the Assembly for doing so.
We saw the long delays, the extensive delays, in the completion of the Alexander Maconochie Centre. And then there was the sham opening, which we all recall, on the eve of the ACT election of 2008. We have seen ongoing defects in the Alexander Maconochie Centre, in particular defect 2.6. We saw cost blow-outs in the total cost from $110 million to $130 million. We saw cost blow-outs in the cost per prisoner. The Chief Minister said that it would cost no more than sending prisoners to New South Wales. What we know is that in fact—he is actually on the record as saying it, Mr Assistant Speaker; roll your eyes if you wish—the price per prisoner peaked at $500. I am not sure quite what the figure is now.
We know that the jail was delivered without a gym, without a chapel and without a perimeter fence—but with an artwork. What a surprise! What of the number of beds that were delivered? The original scope of the project had beds at nearly 500. It was then reduced to 375, and only about 300 beds were finally delivered when the jail opened. And there is a lack of transition accommodation also. The original scope was 60 beds, and only 15 were delivered.
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