Question Time

Adelaide Remand Centre

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:07): My question is to the Minister for Correctional Services. Will the privatised Adelaide Remand Centre be subject to the full set of accountability measures that currently apply to public prisons, including coverage of the ICAC Act, the Freedom of Information Act and the South Australian Ombudsman's office?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:07): I thank the member for the question and note firstly that we have outsourced the management of the Remand Centre: it has not been privatised. The actual body itself, the Remand Centre—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —because of the building will remain, of course, in state government hands. I am intrigued to get the question from the opposition leader, given that he would know the answer to a lot of these questions because he was the minister at the time when he put the deal together for Mount Gambier Prison, a privatised prison down in Mount Gambier. In fact, he put together the contract—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —to renew that, and he signed off on it. I think I have the pen from his office where he signed that contract, and I used it to sign mine as well. I thank him for leaving the pen behind. It was greatly appreciated.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: You signed the contract.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Yes, I did.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for West Torrens is still interjecting.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: You would think the Treasurer would know that, too, given the size of the contract and how that has to work.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Within the contract, a number of KPIs are stipulated for the new company that is taking over the running of the ARC. They will be subject to all the appropriate due diligence requirements. They are outlined in the contract, and they will meet them. It is very much hinged around, as you know, the 10by20 program. Those KPIs are written into the contract, along with—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: There is a point of order, minister. Please be seated for one moment.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We haven't asked about key performance indicators.

The SPEAKER: What is the point of order?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Relevance, sir, debate.

The SPEAKER: The point of order is for debate. I have the question. I believe the minister's answer was germane to the question, but I will listen attentively to ensure that it sticks on that path.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. The question was about the requirements within the contract—

The SPEAKER: Yes.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —and the obligations they have to meet, and I have outlined that there are a number of KPIs—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —built into that contract to make sure that they deliver what we want here in South Australia, and that is funded—or shaped, rather—around the Better Prisons program. I have spoken about that before in this place when I came into this job—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —and, again, it is interesting that the Leader of the Opposition raises this point—

The Hon. A. Piccolo interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Light!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —because he was the one who, along with the member for Kaurna who followed him in that position, left us in quite a precarious state.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: He left us with the projection—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir: clearly this is debate now.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. In fairness to the minister, there are several interjections coming from mainly my left and some from my right. I have listened to the minister's answer. He did start on the straight and narrow. He is starting to move away from the substance of the question, and I am listening to his answer. I won't be taking any more points of order on this issue, but, if he does move away from the substance of the question, I will uphold the point of order. The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I do appreciate that; with all the interjections, I have lost my train of thought, other than to say that we have—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —got the contract in place. The procurement process was exactly the same as it was when those on the other side privatised or continued to privatise the contract of the prison down in Mount Gambier with G4S. The same process was followed.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the Leader of the Opposition, I call the following members to order: the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Light, the member for Wright, the member for Cheltenham, the member for Elizabeth, the ministers for primary industries and education, the member for Hammond and the member for Reynell. The Leader of the Opposition.