Rigney, Mr R.G.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (14:55): Supplementary relating to the minister's answers: given that the minister has confirmed that it is the department that stuffed up, can the minister assure the house that no prisoners will be punished when they make applications for compassionate leave for future funerals and other events, when they have in the past been managed properly, and allowed to appropriately go to a loved one's funeral? Can the minister guarantee to the house that there will be no punishment to future prisoners through the stuff-up of the department?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:56): The decision in this instance to release Mr Rigney to attend a funeral on compassionate grounds was a decision made by a court. They are not decisions that are made by me. I would have thought that the courts feel very comfortable to be able to make decisions under their own authority, as they have in the past.

Regarding the mistakes that have been made in this instance by the Department for Correctional Services, it is incumbent upon me, as the responsible minister, to satisfy myself that Corrections are putting in place measures to ensure that (a) this doesn't happen again and also (b) hold people to account when they have made mistakes that aren't reasonable. I have been advised by the department that both those things are occurring.