Parliamentary Committees

Public Works Committee: Cadell Training Centre (New Dairy Complex)

Mr BROWN (Florey) (11:44): I move:

That the first report of the committee for the Fifty-Fifth Parliament, entitled Cadell Training Centre (New Dairy Complex), be noted.

The Cadell Training Centre (CTC) is a low-security prison farm situated on approximately 1,600 hectares of vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in the Riverland. It is an open institution, with no perimeter fencing, where prisoners work together to budget, order food and prepare meals in cottage-style accommodation. This sense of normality promotes the trust, responsibility and accountability the prisoners need in preparation for a return to the community. Finding suitable employment after release is a crucial factor in reducing the rate of reoffending. The CTC prepares prisoners for release by providing job-ready skills training. It offers nationally recognised qualifications in various industries, such as citrus, olive and dairy production.

The proposed works will upgrade and expand the CTC's existing dairy complex, which forms an integral part of the rehabilitation process. The facility teaches prisoners transferable skills with a real-life application in several South Australian job sectors. Currently, it employs 25 prisoners to milk cows and package milk products. The prisoners tend to a herd of 100 milking cows that produce 2,200 litres of raw milk every day. The CTC supplies milk products to over 3,000 prisoners across the state. In addition, excess product and cream are sold to South Australian businesses for the manufacture of cheese.

As the complex was constructed in the 1960s, the infrastructure and equipment are badly in need of upgrading. Maintenance costs are substantial and sourcing parts has become very difficult. This project will allow the dairy to upgrade the infrastructure and expand its processing capacity, product line and customer base, while continuing to deliver quality milk products across the correctional system.

The dairy project presents a valuable opportunity for prisoners committed to rehabilitation. An expanded dairy means more prisoners can develop valuable skills and positive habits, along with a sense of purpose and pride. Prisoners are encouraged to arrive for shifts on time and have responsibilities that require ongoing attention, such as caring for the herd. The daily responsibilities, scheduled work hours and structured activities all contribute to the development of self-discipline and accountability.

Prisoners who might not be directly employed in the dairy may also benefit from this upgrade. Prisoner construction teams will work with the managing contractor and subcontractors to build works associated with the project, enabling prisoners to develop skills that will support them in achieving a Certificate II in Construction Pathways. Works are scheduled to begin in August 2022, with operational commissioning in November 2023.

The Public Works Committee has examined written and oral evidence in relation to the new dairy complex at the CTC, including receiving oral evidence from Mr Chris Sexton, the Executive Director of People and Business Services, Department for Correctional Services; Ryan Harber, the Executive Director of Community Corrections and Specialist Prisons for the Department for Correctional Services; and Mr Ben Hogarth, the Director of Building Projects for the Department for Infrastructure and Transport.

The Public Works Committee has examined the evidence and the committee is satisfied that the proposal has been subject to the appropriate agency consultation and meets the criteria for examination of projects as set out in the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991. Based upon the evidence considered pursuant to section 12(C) of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public work.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (11:49): I want to thank the Public Works Committee for their speedy passage of the Cadell dairy upgrade. It was a pleasure to recently visit Cadell with the former Minister for Corrections, the member for Hartley. As the local member, I visited the corrections centre—I call it a transition centre—and with great pride. It is an establishment that has been there since 1960, and it gives the opportunity for those who have been in the corrections system to give themselves a level of upskill and transition away from the corrections system out into mainstream society.

Along the way, some of the people or inmates I have seen come away from Cadell have left in a pretty good place. It is there to be a firewall for those who are looking for a new career, new opportunities upon coming out, because we know that reoffending has been such a burden on the corrections system for a very long time.

Going back to the dairy upgrade, as we just heard from the Presiding Member of the committee, somewhere north of $8 million is going to be invested into that upgrade. I have learnt over my time, as I am sure the member for Finniss would have learnt, that the level of commitment working in a dairy is profound: early hours, long hours. It is not just about milking cows but it is about preparation. It is about making sure you have feedstocks and making sure you have a rotation of milking cows to come in and go out.

We know that you cannot milk a cow 365 days of the year. There are times when cows go dry, or cows are put out in the paddock for a spell or to calve, and the Cadell Training Centre offers that opportunity. For those inmates who are currently working in that very old, antiquated dairy—I have watched it working and I have watched them do an outstanding job—I think the time has come to upgrade that dairy and give Cadell a sense of new ownership on a new bit of kit to produce more milk and to train more inmates, giving them a higher level of certification.

We know there are a number of areas of certification in food handling and food safety that currently exist, and I am sure that the upgrade will give them more of an opportunity to take away those certificates to then show a prospective employer when they are outside that virtual fence or virtual wall—because there are no fences and there are no walls. It is met with a sense of trust and a sense of optimism when inmates go to Cadell on that transition out into society.

I commend the upgrade and I commend the Cadell Training Centre. As I have said, 25 prisoners are now employed to milk cows. There are 232 cattle currently there, with 100 milkers producing about 2,200 litres of raw milk every day. Milk has been quite a valuable commodity of recent time, and we are seeing some of that milk go out into private value-adding businesses. Some of that product goes out into the prison system, and some of it is also distributed to local networks.

The upgrade of the dairy at Cadell is a great opportunity to further exemplify what Cadell can do and what it can give as an opportunity for those looking to transition from the corrections system out into mainstream society. As the local member, and as the shadow for corrections, I am buoyed by this investment into Cadell. It gives me great satisfaction to see that this project is getting closer to the pointy end. It ensures that it is of benefit not only to the corrections system but to those transitioning out of corrections into mainstream society.

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (11:54): I, too, rise to talk about the investment at the Cadell training facility. An amazing amount of effort has gone in to getting prisoners rehabilitated. I had the privilege of going out to Cadell in my role as Minister for Primary Industries about 12 months ago, and I saw the operation.

The interesting thing is how pristine and how well the dairy itself was operating. The reason I make that comment is that I had not seen a dairy of that type—a walk-through dairy—in operation for about 30 years. This is a piece of old technology. This is something that they have been working with since the 1960s when it was built. All other dairy farmers around South Australia have upgraded their facilities over that time. Unfortunately, Cadell has not had that opportunity. The prisoners had certainly taken care of this facility to keep it functioning. On reading the report, I understand that they are getting to the point of struggling to find parts to keep the existing machinery going, and I can imagine that being the case.

To see this upgrade is fantastic. It will make the prisoners who are operating in the dairy itself more relevant to the workforce. I asked prison officers there whether any dairy trainees had gone to work on dairy farms from the existing facility, and they said they did not think so. I can quite understand that, too, because what they are learning there is not necessarily transferable because of the age of the facility, whereas this new facility they are going to—again, it is not necessarily the most modern dairy out there as far as new technologies go—certainly has much closer links to the existing dairy industry and gives them the opportunity to get themselves some work in the dairy industry.

It is also the pride in the way that dairy is run. They may not have all the shiny new equipment as they are about to get, but they have certainly invested in the cows themselves. The genetics of the herd at Cadell are some of the highest I have seen. They have made sure they have bred cows there that are actually able to produce milk in the environment they operate in, and they have done a great job through the support of the prison officers as well as the prisoners working there. It is a real credit to those people there. It is certainly helping this facility achieve its outcomes, and I think the investment in the new dairy is essential. I am pleased to see that investment. I believe it will create a greater tie between the dairy industry and Cadell going forward.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Finniss, and I appreciate your expertise in relation to dairying matters. I just remind the house that notice has been given to suspend standing orders at midday.

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (11:57): I rise to also make a brief contribution in relation to this project. I reiterate the comments that have been made before the house thus far. I did do ag science in year 12 at Rostrevor College and I have learned a little bit about agriculture, tailing sheep, milking cows—

Mr Whetstone: Milking cows?

Mr TARZIA: —absolutely—and all kinds of things, like what to plant at what stage of the season throughout the year. I have had the great privilege of being able to build on that knowledge by visiting Cadell when I was corrections minister. Can I say that I absolutely commend the team in the Corrections department for what they do.

We all have a duty, if some of these offenders do come into our system, to do what we can to help improve their lives so that when they do leave prison they go out as better people with better skills. This particular project gives them an absolutely outstanding opportunity to learn some new skills that they can then take to the outside world when they are hopefully rehabilitated. It is an outstanding complex.

I thank Ryan, Chris, Mr Brown and the team. I am very happy to see this transition, this upgrade, and I am really looking forward to seeing what it delivers by way of rehabilitative outcomes for many offenders in the system. I thank the committee for its work and I commend the report.

Mr BROWN (Florey) (11:59): I want to not only thank everyone for their contributions but also point out that the member for Chaffey did attend the committee meeting. Although he did not present evidence, he was kind enough to informally tell the members of his support for the project.

Motion carried.