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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-04-03 Daily Xml
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REGIONAL PRISONS

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (14:46): My question is to the Minister for Correctional Services. Can the minister inform the house how regional South Australian communities are benefiting from the expansion of our state's prison system?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:46): I thank the member for Little Para for this question which draws attention to key benefits from the upgrades of our regional prisons in South Australia. Five of our state's prisons are in regional areas—Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, Cadell, Mount Gambier and Murray Bridge—and they currently provide employment for something like 500 local people as well as opportunities for local businesses through the provision of catering, maintenance and other services that support our local employment.

I am delighted to inform the house that a $16.2 million expansion of the Port Augusta Prison is well underway and due for completion later this year. Earthworkers, concreters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, steelworkers, roofers, painters, air-conditioning workers and vinyl layers are all working hard to add an extra 80 medium to high-security beds to the prison system.

The Mount Gambier community is also set to reap the rewards of a $22.9 million, 112-bed expansion. The planned upgrade—and I visited the Mount Gambier Prison with the member for Mount Gambier a little while ago—will encompass safe, secure modular cells and a new kitchen, as well as additional security infrastructure.

The member for Mount Gambier was very keen to ensure that local businesses were involved in providing this upgrade and that is why briefings to local companies to facilitate this process have been held to make sure that businesses and tradespeople were aware of all of the opportunities that will arise from this expansion.

These meetings were well attended by around 70 people, I am told, which shows the level of enthusiasm for this project from the Mount Gambier community. Further full-time positions will be required at both Mount Gambier and Port Augusta, once the prison expansions are completed. We are ensuring the prison system has sufficient capacity through staged upgrades and we are spreading the benefits across regional communities.

This government makes no apology for locking up more offenders and locking them up for longer. Importantly, however, the 2012 Productivity Commission Report on Government Services reflects this by showing that South Australia, for the fourth consecutive year, has the lowest return to prison rate in the nation. This is the crucial measure of a state's prison system and South Australia has come out on top yet again. In large part, this is because of our commitment to education, our intensive focus on basic literacy and numeracy skills, and rehabilitation programs.

When the Liberals were last in government, South Australia was last when it came to educating our prisoners; now the Report on Government Services says we are the leading mainland state. The result is a safer community for all South Australians.

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