Page 4690 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 27 November 2019
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prison framework. I am encouraged by the finding that the foundations are strong but I am also focused on the work that still needs to be done.
The Office of the Inspector of Correctional Services was set up and funded exactly for this purpose. This was a deliberate decision, led by me. I have brought the legislation to this place to create a proactive, independent oversight mechanism to drive continuous improvement in our corrective services system, including through the proactive healthy prison review, every two years. I am a minster who expects continuous improvement. The inspector’s independent report highlights the number of areas where real improvement has been made but also identifies the areas that need further work.
This is the first report of its kind in the ACT. Therefore, I think it provides us with benchmarks for the future. It enables us actually to measure in a benchmarked way how we are going into the future. The report is a snapshot in time. I think this is an important perspective to keep in mind. It is very clear that it does not seek to highlight all the improvements that have been made in recent years or the progress that has been made in the relatively short history of this facility.
It is now a jail that is just 10 years old. Compare that to other systems that have literally been operating for 100 years. It does not take account of the industry developments that I have talked about. They are not part of the story because that is not the job of the review. The fieldwork was undertaken in July and I am pleased to be able to flag to the Assembly that some of the issues identified in that report have been worked on appreciably since the fieldwork was undertaken in July, because necessarily the inspector could only take a snapshot in time.
In areas such as policy work, there has been a concerted project going on for a period of time now to update and amend the policies to make sure that the gaps are filled in where they need to be. The report presents a system that is challenged but rising to those challenges. I think that that is a worthy description of the ongoing efforts of ACT corrective services. The deep and broad maturation and modernisation of the jail and its operations are progressing.
This is a work in progress. It is work where we are not standing still. I and the leadership of ACT corrective services at our weekly meetings discuss almost every single week, “What are we doing this week to improve the operations of the AMC?” As the inspector notes, ACT corrective services does have work ahead of it, but I am confident that the executive team will continue to progress this work and methodically and systematically improve on a range of fronts in the short, medium and longer term in response to some of these recommendations.
There is a wealth of examples of promising practice and enhanced services for detainees if you take the time to look for them. That, of course, does not suit the purposes of this motion today but that does not mean that they are not happening. There is also a range of benefits that flow to, or are directly relevant to, staff such as the funding of a dedicated intelligence and security unit and year-on-year staffing profile increases.
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