Correctional Services, Veterans

The Hon. A.L. McLACHLAN (14:55): My question is for the Minister for Correctional Services. How many ex-service personnel and veterans of operational service are currently in the correctional service system?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:56): I have made that inquiry recently. I met with a gentleman from Veterans SA recently who drew my attention, along with the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, to the fact that there may be a number of people who find themselves incarcerated who are former veterans and the concerns around what might have contributed to a veteran finding themselves in the criminal justice system or, the worst case scenario, incarcerated. I have subsequently asked for the department to do some work around numbers on that.

I can inform the house that I have also asked the Department for Correctional Services to see if they can implement a system, if they do not currently, to collect those statistics and what can be done to ask that question during admission to be able to find out. I am advised that that work is underway and, once I have some results on that, I am more than happy to share it with the honourable member.