C.S. Hare Centre

The Hon. A.L. McLACHLAN (15:21): I have a supplementary question arising out of the minister's answer. What was the cost of setting up the facility, and what will its annualised running costs be?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:22): I don't have the specific figure at hand, but I will be more than happy to make that available to the honourable member. What I would say is that I have been advised and have taken quite a great interest in the fact that building new facilities within our prison system or a brownfield site is an expensive exercise. Some of the numbers that I have seen regarding the costs of adding new facilities, particularly at Yatala, where it is a high-security facility, are quite large, and certainly exceed what some people would ordinarily expect to be the case.

The honourable member will be interested to know some of the contributing factors to that. I have been advised that brownfield sites which are a high-security facility require a whole range of checks and balances to be put in place regarding materials that are coming and going from a facility, clearances, appropriate security checks for personnel going to and from the facility, which add time and substantial cost to building those facilities, which on further examination makes perfect sense.

What I do say in respect to your specific question is that I am more than happy to come back to you and provide you with a specific figure as to the cost of this new facility, but once you see the figure you should look at it in the context of the additional costs that are incurred as a result of building within a brownfield site.