International Corrections and Prisons Conference

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (14:59): My question is to the Minister for Correctional Services. Can the minister inform the house about the upcoming visit by international correctional services delegates to Adelaide?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:59): I thank the honourable member for her question and, also, I acknowledge her interest in ensuring that we have a system which helps rehabilitation of our offenders.

Earlier this week, I attended the 17^th International Corrections and Prisons Conference held in Melbourne. This was the first time that an Australian city has hosted the conference since it was convened in Perth in 2001. The conference is attended by more than 600 delegates from 50 nations from across the world. The conference provides a unique opportunity to gather international delegates from the criminal justice sector, and provides a forum for energetic, creative and diverse exchange of ideas and practices.

I had the opportunity to meet and discuss important issues with leading correctional administrators from Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. What became abundantly clear is that the challenges facing the correctional system in South Australia and Australia-wide are not unique to our jurisdictions. Everyone spoke of the changing dynamics of the prison population, its age, prevalence of longer sentences, and ageing infrastructure. But, with every challenge comes opportunity for innovation. It was heartening to speak to Scandinavian and North American delegates about the response to the challenges they have.

The theme of the conference was 'Managing risk in contemporary correctional systems'. The president's opening address focused on this theme, and especially the relationship between prisons and the wider community. In keeping with that message, over the course of tomorrow and Monday I have the honour of hosting international delegates to Adelaide to hold discussions with our stakeholders and the broader community about corrections and also the reform of our systems.

The following delegates will be in Adelaide for the discussions: Mr Michael Donnellan, Director of the Irish Prison Service; Mr Graham Betts-Symonds, of the Irish Prison Service Health Care; Mr Bernie Warner, formerly the secretary of corrections at Washington State; Dr Peter Johnston, Director of Research and Analysis, New Zealand Corrections and Dr Paul Crookall, previously from the Canadian Correctional Service. They will address the South Australian Department for Correctional Services, and I thank my Chief Executive and his team for their hard work in managing to secure such prominent guests.

The opposition spokesperson (member for Morialta) has also accepted an invitation to be involved in these discussions, and I thank him for his continued interest in this area. I firmly believe the experience and insights that these leading corrections professionals will share will provide valuable input into the reforms we are currently exploring for South Australia's correctional services. I look forward to our discussions and working with them.

I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the successes of our system in South Australia. Traditionally, the Wednesday of the conference agenda is dedicated to presentations from the host nation. Eight presentations were given by the South Australian Department for Correctional Services. I thank Ms Annette McKee, Katie Cahill-Haslam, Bernie McGinnes, Tony Shillabeer, Graeme Pearce, Yilma Woldgabreal, Henry Pharo and Luke Williams for their presentations, which covered the management of risk in the community, the gender responsive management of women, the management of electronic monitoring in remote communities, and evidence-based approaches for screening on admission to prison.

I am advised that the presentations were well received and provided a wonderful opportunity to the South Australian department to demonstrate to our international colleagues some of the great work that occurs here.