Page 1531 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
(2) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) report to the ACT Assembly on the findings of any investigation into the rise in the numbers of Indigenous detainees at the AMC by 30 June 2016; and
(b) commit to implementing a thorough review of management and security practices at the AMC, with an objective to reducing the total cost per prisoner and subsequent impost on ACT taxpayers.
The motion I bring here today is once again aimed at highlighting the inconsistencies and failings of the ACT jail and corrections system in the ACT as a whole. I am well aware that I may be starting to sound like a broken record because of the number of times I have raised these issues in this place, but it is apparent to me that nothing has changed over the past four years or, indeed, since the jail was built.
The first highlighted issue in this motion relates to the skyrocketing increase in the rates of Indigenous detainees at the AMC: up 27 per cent in less than one year. I note that the minister for corrections has made the decision to launch an investigation into this alarming spike; however, this illustrates yet again the bandaid solutions and highly reactive approach to the issues facing the jail.
It is simply not acceptable to see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continually over-represented in negative statistics, especially in a jurisdiction such as the ACT. An Aboriginal adult is currently 16 times more likely to be incarcerated in Australia while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represent only three per cent of the total population. The question needs to be asked: why does more than 28 per cent of Australia’s prison population identify as Indigenous?
I would not make a habit of agreeing with the former Labor Chief Minister Jon Stanhope. However, some of his recent comments on the increasing Indigenous incarceration rates and the cost to the taxpayer of the AMC have well and truly struck a chord. Why is it that the increasing cost per prisoner per day is yielding very little in the way of outcomes for the territory, particularly regarding the make-up of the prison population? And, most importantly, why is it not delivering the outcomes and the change in lifestyle that the detainees need so much?
Recently Mr Stanhope was quoted as saying this in the Canberra Times:
If it doesn’t measure up, serious questions have to be asked about what management is doing with the very, very, generous funds they receive.
Mr Stanhope has implied publicly that the jail has “lost its way”, and while Mr Rattenbury strenuously denies this assessment, he must at some level feel the same way. Mr Stanhope does, indeed, have a legacy to protect, but it must be galling for him to know that the most socially progressive of ministers in this government is in fact struggling with Mr Stanhope’s own vision of a jail that was far removed from the punitive style of correctional facility adopted by every other jurisdiction in Australia.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video