Page 1443 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
I went back and I checked my records. No, the Manager of Government Business knew nothing about the Minister for Health presenting a paper on Wednesday. But after cabinet on Monday, suddenly, lo and behold, the Minister for Health is presenting the Burnet report.
Mr Hanson: What a coincidence.
MRS DUNNE: It is quite coincidental because the only reason the Burnet report is being released is that Mr Hanson had the capacity to release it informally, and it was released informally by Mr Hanson as a service to the ACT community because they need to know just how badly we are performing in our prison and just how badly this Attorney-General is performing in his capacity as the minister for corrective services.
Let us just look at this litany. Let us look at Mr Hanson’s motion. He notes in his motion the whole range of things that have gone wrong in the prison—and it is a sorry story. We have noted that in 2008 and 2009 there were ongoing human rights breaches at the Belconnen Remand Centre because of the management of this minister who went through a faux opening of the AMC. He and the Chief Minister said that by December that year there would be prisoners in the AMC when they knew that that could not be the case. The minister knew. The findings of the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety found that the minister was badly briefed from the outset and found that the minister needed to do something about the briefing process in his department to ensure that there was better management. In addition to that there were security breaches in 2008 and 2009 at the BRC, including violent incidents that resulted in corrections officers being treated in hospital.
We know that the AMC was eventually delivered about a year over time, even though the AMC had been officially opened on election eve, five months prior to its receiving prisoners. This has been a matter of some contention for the attorney because of the unanimous report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety, including one of his own members, which roundly criticised him for a whole range of aspects of management of the opening process and the failure to populate the AMC in a timely manner.
There is a range of issues which to this day seem to be unaddressed. The major fault in the hierarchy of the communication system to this day is not addressed. The issue of liquidated damages is not addressed; it has not been resolved and this is a matter of significant failure by this minister. As I have said, defects remain in the security system. There was the issue that we discussed today in question time of the downgrading of the number of beds available. In addition to that, the fact that there is no gym, the outer perimeter fence was not built, and in fact the chapel or quiet space has not been built. It is interesting to note in relation to the Burnet report that we have now discovered that you can actually breach security, and partly because there is no outer perimeter fence, and that drugs are getting into the prison by people lobbing tennis balls full of contraband—
Mr Seselja: All that money, and all you need is a Wilson.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video