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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-11-11 Daily Xml
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Correctional Services

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (14:42): I have a supplementary, sir. Given the minister's comments that the corrections department has no control over who goes into their system, given that Corrections numbers, prisoner numbers, have increased by 10 per cent last year and 5 per cent in the first two months of this year, all of which was entirely predictable, and every day this year the prison system has been overcrowded, when are you going to take responsibility for the mess in Corrections and when are you actually going to deal with the fact that there is no long-term plan in the Corrections system?

The SPEAKER: That question is out of order. I see the Attorney is keen to answer it.

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (14:42): If I'm given sufficient latitude I'm happy to answer that question. First of all, the first statement made by the honourable member for Morialta is what a famous American statesman would have referred to as a self-evident truth; that is, that the Corrections service does—

The Hon. J.J. Snelling: A priori.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: A priori, indeed. The Corrections service does not actually select its own people, believe it or not; they are selected by others. The second thing is, he then went on to say that these things are entirely predictable. Well, predictable according to what and whom, I would be interested to know.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Stuart is called to order.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: If you would just let me, I am building this up to the eureka moment where the smiles will break out on their faces, Mr Speaker, when they realise that all this worry has been unnecessary. The situation is this: at the last election the Premier asked me to look at this question of justice reform, from beginning to end.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is called to order.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: As I was explaining, the fact that we have a large number of people in remand at any given time (that means in prison awaiting trial), one of the questions that we are looking at is, for example, how many of those remandees are short-term remandees? And if they are short-term remandees (say, people remanded for a fortnight or less) why is it that it was necessary for them to be remanded in custody at all in the first place, for instance? Do they represent, in fact, a danger to the public? Is the reason that they are on remand because they could not be put before a suitable—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Anyway, is it because they were not able to be put in front of a magistrate to be able to have a bail application heard? Is it because police were not able, for whatever reason, to process an application for police bail? Is it because the charge actually should not at that time have been a charge but could have been—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Heysen is warned a second and final time.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Mr Speaker, it is very hard to add additional things to a cup that is full. It would appear their cup is completely full presently and further information is unnecessary.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Their cup overfloweth.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Their cup overfloweth with ignorance.

Mr Gardner: Two minutes ago you said this was no laughing matter and now you're trying to make jokes.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: No, I'm not. As I was trying to explain, there are many reasons why somebody winds up in remand, for example. Some of those reasons may be very good reasons; some of those reasons may be reasons that we should be looking at and paying a great deal of attention to.

It is my intention and the government's intention before the end of the year hopefully to be able to present a high-level paper which looks at the whole question of justice reform, not just focusing on Corrections—not saying, 'Corrections, it's all your fault'—not just focusing on the police and saying 'Police, it's all your fault', not just focusing on the courts and saying 'Courts, it's all your fault', but looking at the whole system, including the private profession, including the Director of Public Prosecutions, and including the Legal Services Commission, and asking the question: are all of you people cooperating in the best possible way?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: We will in that context also be turning our minds to the sentencing regime and whether there is an appropriate range of penalties available to the courts which add on to the alternative of imprisonment.

Mr GARDNER: Supplementary, sir.

The SPEAKER: Before the member for Morialta asks the question, I call the member for Colton to order.

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