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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-05-30 Daily Xml
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PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE: MOUNT GAMBIER PRISON EXPANSION

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (11:17): I move:

That the 446th report of the committee, entitled Mount Gambier Prison Expansion, be noted.

I am glad to note that the member for Mount Gambier is in the chamber as we speak. The Public Works Committee considered an expansion of the Mount Gambier Prison valued at $22.9 million. The new cell block at Mount Gambier Prison will enhance the options available to the Department for Correctional Services when assessing the placement of prisoners.

The proposed expansion will consist of a single storage solution utilising used shipping containers, with the majority fitted out as bunked cells. This solution was considered the best fit on a combination of operational issues and the available budget. The cell block has been designed in a figure-eight shape. The two wings themselves will be single storey, arranged in a square rectangle with a central area that will accommodate a number of support services, such as officers' stations, dining, recreation, medical and interview rooms. Each wing will accommodate 54 prisoners.

The current prison complex consists of a single medium security cell block plus a number of low security residential units, and a number of associated facilities providing services to the prisoners, plus associated admin areas. The new cell block at Mount Gambier Prison is designed to contribute to meeting the need for accommodation resulting from the expected growth in prisoner numbers over the next two to three years. Long-term modelling supports a growth of 2.6 to 3 per cent per annum, or approximately 51 additional prisoners per year. Without the 108 beds that this cell block will provide, the South Australian prison system will not have sufficient beds to accommodate projected peaks in prisoner numbers in 2013-14 or sufficient beds to accommodate expected average prisoner numbers in 2015-16.

Construction will be completed in March 2013. Given this, and pursuant to section 12C of the act, the Public Works Committee recommends these works.

Mr PEGLER (Mount Gambier) (11:19): I certainly support this initiative. I must say that the department and the Mayor of the District Council of Grant have worked very well together. A meeting was organised, and they pointed out the opportunities for local tradesmen in building this addition to the prison. The end result is that there will be many more employment opportunities for people working in that prison from Mount Gambier and also for the services that are provided to the prison, such as food, and for local tradesmen fixing up the various things, so that is all good.

One of the threats that some people have seen is the fact that we could end up with a lot of the families of those prisoners moving down to Mount Gambier, but very few of their families do move to Mount Gambier when they come down there. There is also a great program in place where prisoners from other areas are relocated back to those areas for at least three months before they are released. Those prisoners who have originated from Adelaide or elsewhere come back here before they are released so they are not released into our community. I certainly commend the government on this new build.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (11:20): I do wish to comment on this. I take some interest in the prison system in South Australia. Mr Severin and his department answered a number of questions in relation to the Mount Gambier Prison expansion. It is something that we have to cope with. It seems an inordinate amount of money to keep people under lock and key. However, I would point out that, with yet another shooting last night in metropolitan Adelaide, they will have a few more to put in the cells before it is all over and done with. It is just a pity that there was not more action on this instead of talk from the government; however, that is not the subject of this discussion.

The Mount Gambier Prison is much needed. The idea of the used shipping containers being turned into cells is something that has been fleshed out for some time. It is already in existence at the Women's Prison adjacent to Yatala, and it will become more the norm. However, it is going to be interesting to see where we go in the future because the Remand Centre—just some short distance from this building—was an eighties American-style high-rise prison which has turned out to be less than useful. It is a disastrous place, and it is a shocking place to go into and see just how it operates. Any member who has not been there ought to go and have a look. I just hope we are getting it right with these shipping containers. The alternative, of course, is to have something like Yatala, which is still there 100 years later.

However, in relation to the Mount Gambier Prison expansion, the opposition is supportive of the project. Of course, it follows along from the grand announcement by the former Rann government of the extension to the Mobilong Prison a few years ago without any knowledge of the local council in Murray Bridge, something that the member for Hammond picked up on at the time. Now we are finding the need to do this down at Mount Gambier. With those few words, the opposition supports the project. We will watch it with interest.

Motion carried.

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