House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-05-16 Daily Xml

Contents

PRISONER COMPLAINT, OMBUDSMAN'S REPORT

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (14:40): Supplementary. The Ombudsman's report indicated that medical advice provided on 23 February 2012 was that Ms Davies should be transferred to a forensic medical mental health facility. Why did it take until 11 April to move her to James Nash House?

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN (Napier—Minister for Finance, Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:41): I think the issues contained within the report of the Ombudsman deal more with: how do we prevent a repeat of this type of incident? Corrections has addressed all of the recommendations, bar one, which relates to soft restraints. It has trialled one soft restraint. There is a general lack of availability of soft restraints. This is the only recommendation that Corrections has had difficulty in addressing. It has trialled one soft restraint, unsuccessfully.

New South Wales apparently has an identical issue, and the New South Wales government and the South Australian government are collaborating on the development of a product that may suit the requirements of both New South Wales and South Australia. It may ultimately come down to both governments concurrently developing their own product. That is the only outstanding piece of work that has to be done in relation to the Ombudsman's report.