Page 4688 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 27 November 2019
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and for the Chief Minister to find a corrections minister capable and willing and interested enough to do the job well.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong—Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Minister for Corrections and Justice Health, Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety and Minister for Mental Health) (5.40): I am happy to inform the house that I will not be resigning from my role as minister for corrections, nor will I be supporting Mrs Jones’s motion today. Firstly, Mrs Jones motion makes a series of dramatic statements in an attempt to bolster her argument. But they really exaggerate the situation or simply get it wrong. Let me give a couple of examples taken directly from her motion.
The motion suggests that the AMC has been plagued by escapes. Escapes from custody in the ACT are lower than those in most states. Since the jail opened in 2009, there have been four escapes from custody as per the definition in the Report on government services. In that same period, the Northern Territory has had 105 escapes and New South Wales has had 119. The other jurisdictions have figures lower than that. The ACT has had four in that period. I think we need to put some of these things into perspective to see the reality of what is actually happening at the AMC. Of course, we seek to prevent all escapes. Certainly, those four that have taken place have been regrettable. But the claim of a plague of them really is an exaggeration.
Another example is where Mrs Jones seeks to note in the motion that there is no methadone exit program. I can inform the Assembly that Canberra Health Services are clear in advising me that all detainees released from the AMC who are on the opioid maintenance therapy program are referred to a community provider, which may include Canberra Health Services alcohol and drug services at the Canberra Hospital or a range of other community prescribers.
Newly released detainees have priority access to opioid maintenance therapy at the alcohol and drug service public clinic. This includes access to counsellors, nurses and medical staff. They are then dosed at the AMC prescription level until they attend a medical review with an alcohol and drug service addiction medicine specialist. The script is valid for one month. I do not know where the assertion comes from that there is no exit program, because there is a clear pathway. If someone leaves custody, they remain engaged by the services.
Mrs Jones has also commented that there is a high rate of methadone use in the AMC. She suggested some sort of chemical handcuffs. All I can inform the Assembly is that it is a medical decision, made by a medical professional, as to whether somebody enters that program. If Mrs Jones wants to suggest that those medical staff are making inappropriate decisions, she should say that rather than make the sort of allusions she is making that suggest that some other strategy is in place.
Let me turn to the issue of low staff morale, because Mrs Jones has cited 93 resignations. I need to take this opportunity to correct the record. In the response provided to the Select Committee on Estimates 2019-20, it was stated there were 93 resignations in total over the three-year period. However, there were in fact 94 in the period. The difference is due to a resignation that occurred in 2018-19 year being
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