OFFENDER COMMUNITY SERVICE

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (16:14): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Correctional Services a question regarding offender community service in the South-East region of South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: I understand that new community service projects are expected to commence in the Wattle Range Council in the state's South-East in the next couple of months. Will the minister provide some details of the project?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Gambling, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (16:14): I thank the honourable member for his important question. The Department for Correctional Services already has a well organised community service program at Mount Gambier, which includes initiatives with Forestry SA.

This initiative has been running for over 12 months. Offenders sentenced to perform community service in the region are most often allocated to a ForestrySA work group. All participating offenders are made honorary Friends of the Forest, and there are currently four supervised work groups a week, or about 30 offenders, attending the ForestrySA project. They carry out tasks such as removing rubbish but, more importantly, identifying and removing invasive weeds from the forest floor.

The main weeds include bridal creeper, boneseed, African violet, and feral pines. This significant work is in order to create a biodiversity corridor to enable wildlife to move between the forest plantations. On a visit to Mount Gambier I met with community correctional officers involved in delivering the program, and they had enormous praise for the commitment of the offenders with whom they were working in this important environmental work.

I understand that an opportunity is currently being developed for the offenders to undertake a registered training course at TAFE that is directly related to their work in the forest. I am also pleased to report that the Wattle Range Council is now working with the Department for Correctional Services—

The Hon. B.V. Finnigan interjecting:

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: Yes. It is now working with the council to engage offenders to also undertake community service projects within the council area. The department will start a community service cost-share program with Wattle Range Council in the next couple of months which will focus on Millicent and the Wattle Range Council, and which will therefore provide opportunities for people who live in those areas to do community service in their local community.

The projects the department will undertake for Wattle Range Council will include programmed parks and garden maintenance such as tree trimming and tree planting, painting of park benches and outdoor structures, and minor building maintenance and construction work such as footpath repairs. Wattle Range Council will provide all the equipment and materials required for the project tasks and will also provide any specific training that might be required for the project. The departmental community service supervisor will provide on-site induction and supervision of the community service clients.

It is anticipated that a registered training course with TAFE will be considered in the future for offenders involved in the Wattle Range Council projects, and it will be directly linked to the work carried out. I am certain that the new agreement will result in positive outcomes for both offenders and the South-East community.