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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-10-13 Daily Xml
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MAGILL TRAINING CENTRE

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:34): My question is to the Minister for Families and Communities.

The Hon. K.O. Foley: Steve, are you too scared to ask me questions?

Mr GRIFFITHS: No, it is an important one for elsewhere, Kevin. Can the minister advise how much of the proposed $1 million over two years allocated to the Magill Training Centre for upgrades will be left over to address the problem of what has been described as 'ongoing human rights abuses' at the centre after spending on a security and intercom system? On 9 September in the Budget and Finance Committee, Peter Bull from the Department for Families and Communities stated that only $1 million of the government's announced $5 million allocation from contingency funds for upgrades to Magill and Cavan would be spent on the Magill Training Centre, and that that amount would be used primarily to address problems with security and an upgrade of the intercom system and not improving conditions for children in detention.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Families and Communities, Minister for Northern Suburbs, Minister for Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability) (15:35): I know that members of the opposition are disappointed that we are building a new centre. I know they are disappointed—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: —that we have been able to find within our own resources $67 million to build a new facility. We will have something like 96 places now rather than the 90 that would have come from the PPP and we have allocated money, as the shadow spokesperson said, to maintain and sustain Magill until we have the new facility ready for occupancy in late 2011, only a few months after what was the original occupancy date.

We have always said that we are putting money into Magill that will sustain it until we can move into the new centre, and that is what we will continue to do. If the member thinks for a minute that appropriate security and intercom systems are not about the safety and wellbeing of young people, he does not understand juvenile detention.

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