Prisoner Numbers

Mr KNOLL (Schubert) (14:56): A supplementary: will the DCS budget be met this year, and will the average prisoner population as set out in the budget be met over the course of the 2017-18 year?

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Health, Minister Assisting the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (14:56): I am sure the Treasurer will implore me as the minister to do everything I possibly can to ensure that we meet the budget. Obviously this is a portfolio in which demands vary from time to time, and we have to respond to the demands that are placed upon us by the community and the courts in terms of the number of prisoners coming into it. We always seek, of course, in the context of that, to try to meet our budget targets and work to them to the best of our ability. I am sure that this year will be no different to that.