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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-09-28 Daily Xml
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Public Works Committee: Mount Gambier Prison Expansion

Adjourned debate on motion of Ms Digance:

That the 550th report of the committee, entitled 'Proposal to expand Mount Gambier Prison—additional 112 beds', be noted.

(Continued from 21 September 2016.)

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (11:10): I would like to further expand on my remarks in regard to the 550th report on the proposal to expand Mount Gambier Prison. I will start with a little bit of background. The prison was opened in 1995, located in a general farming community in the District Council of Grant. It is the only privately managed prison in South Australia. Over the years there have been a number of expansions at the prison, including 24 beds in 2014 for low and medium security accommodation.

As a committee, we visited the prison last year. It was a productive visit. I think we have visited all of the prisons now in South Australia as a committee. What it shows me is that the expansion of Mount Gambier Prison will now provide an improved capacity of 2,861 beds right across the prison system in South Australia. Currently across the system, there are up to 119 short-term beds—61 beds with DCS and 58 beds with SAPOL, such as the City Watch House and the Holden Hill Police Station.

Currently, Mount Gambier Prison accommodates 453 low and medium security prisoners, and the expansion will take the capacity to 605 by 2018. With the half a million dollars already spent, the cost of the remaining expansion is $58.2 million (excluding GST). In addition, regarding the accommodation expansion, there will be additional buildings which comprise officers' stations, multifunction programs, education rooms and recreational indoor space, and there will also be a refit of the new visiting area, new medical facilities and new videoconferencing facilities, as well as the upgrade to the electronic security infrastructure from analog to digital.

During the hearing, I asked about the use of the local businesses in the project and was told they were going to be used, so I hope to see South Australian businesses involved in that project, no matter how close the Victorian border is. One of the things that raised my interest was the $1.87 million architects' bill for this project. Looking at the project, it is modular and it is an expansion of recent upgrades to that prison. We are told there was a competitive tendering process, but again I question the high cost of those fees in a job.

The departmental witnesses were not able to rule out Mount Gambier Prison ever being a high-risk prison. I know that the security fencing, the perimeter boundary fencing, has the standard which is high security. We were told that they could never rule out anything when asked if that prison could potentially become a high security prison. I am sure that that would raise some concerns, particularly with the local member down there, Mr Troy Bell. I am sure that he and his constituents would have some concerns at never ruling out that prison becoming a high security prison.

It is an upgrade that, sadly, is needed in South Australia. The prison system in South Australia seems to go from full to full to full. We do upgrades, they fill up very quickly. We do another expansion, that fills up. Overall, I welcome the report on the upgrade of the prison, but what is clear is that once the expansion is finished in 2018, it will not be long before the state government will need to consider further prison upgrades in Mount Gambier.

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (11:14): I rise to make some brief comments on the Public Works Committee report on independent living units and the additional 112 beds. I have a couple of concerns from this report. First of all, the architects' costs are $1.87 million. In looking at the plans, I struggle to see how that value could be placed on architects' fees. It is basically a modular unit that fits within an existing arrangement. For that value to be put on it and to see that there was a tender process, I scratch my head a little bit.

I want to put on the record some of the community's concerns with an ever-expanding prison system. It was not that long ago, four or five years ago, that we had around 300 prisoners and not that long before that we were around the 170 mark. To now see our total prison population rise to over 600 prisoners (605, I believe) in such a short period of time has raised alarm in the community. The disappointing thing is that there seems to be no effort being made to address those concerns. If the state government were serious in addressing those concerns, I think it could be done.

The main concern is that prisoners' families relocate to Mount Gambier or business associates of those in prison relocate to Mount Gambier. Anecdotally, there seems to be an increase in some pretty strange behaviour, which may or may not be linked to an ever-increasing prison population. Without effort being put into seeing whether or not those concerns are valid, it leaves the community in some doubt as to what is going on.

It would not be that hard to actually commission a study into prisoners' families relocating, of course with confidentiality being at the forefront, and also into whether business associates or people who visit prisoners have relocated to Mount Gambier. The concern is that, with an increasing prisoner population, other services are stretched. I know of schoolteachers who have contacted me, as there are more and more students presenting with more and more complex issues. They are saying to me that families have been relocating due to their dad being at the Mount Gambier Prison.

The hospital is quite often at capacity. With an ever-increasing prison population, no thought has been given to increasing the size of the Mount Gambier hospital to account for an increase in prison population. The police, believe it or not, often talk to me about some of these prisoners coming with prior convictions or other matters which are still to be dealt with, such as needing to be either issued with a summons from the police or interviewed on other matters still pending. Of course, this takes valuable police time off our streets because they are conducting interviews out at the prison on matters that may be outstanding with prisoners facing future court date appearances.

Another concern is that this is a privately managed prison. It is reported as being the cheapest prison in South Australia to run. It is not land locked—that is, there are no surrounding houses such as at Yatala or some other prisons—and if they do need to acquire new land then it is cheap land. Even with these additional expansions, reports say that we will hit capacity in our prison system in just 18 months' time, in 2018.

Of course, more prison expansions will be required, and the fear is that Mount Gambier will be an ever-increasing place of prison expansion. There is a concern in the community that we will become known as a prison town. I would like to challenge the government that with 40 per cent of prisoners re-entering the prison system there is a huge opportunity to put in preventative programs or rehabilitation programs that actually work and stop the reflow of prisoners coming out of prison and 40 per cent of them re-entering the prison system.

The fact that the perimeter fence has been built to a maximum security level is deeply concerning. The thought that Mount Gambier Prison could go to a high security or maximum security prison would be and is a concern for residents of the South-East. No assurances have been given in this report that Mount Gambier Prison will not go to a maximum security prison, and in fact the facilities are in place should the government of the day decide that that is the way it wants to go.

Of course, local businesses in the development or the construction of the 112 beds would be welcomed and is welcomed. However, in the report I find it interesting that not only is there going to be a head contractor responsible for all aspects of the build but that DPTI will be paid $1.5 million for its role as the risk manager within that project. If you think about it, that is $1.5 million for 112 beds for which a head contractor is going to be taking all responsibility and then subcontracting down.

I wonder what value that actually incurs and how a figure of $1.5 million can be put on what is essentially a modular unit. Blue Lake Homes, one of our fine builders, could probably do that job very cheaply. Again, I wonder whether it is a cost-shifting exercise, where public servants will be paid through this type of offset arrangement, inflate the price and prop up the bottom line of DPTI and not much work needs to be done.

With that, I think the biggest opportunity I would like to see come out of this is further consultation with the community. It is an area that was asked about in the questioning, but I think it was poorly answered. Very few members of our community have been consulted. As the local member, I certainly have not been consulted. In fact, the only people I can see who have been consulted is the Grant district council. I think there is some real work that needs to be done there.

If there are to be further expansions in the next 18 months because demand will outstrip the supply, then I think a lot of work needs to be done on alleviating the concerns of our community, doing some tracking of where prisoners' families are locating; when prisoners are released, where they relocate and for what period of time; and further consultation with our community. I think we are almost at saturation point, where the community will not accept an ever-increasing gaol system in Mount Gambier, and I am suggesting that further work needs to be done in those areas. With that, I will conclude my remarks.

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (11:24): I would like to thank those who have contributed to speaking about the Mount Gambier Prison additional beds, courtesy of the Public Works Committee. In particular, to the last speaker, the member for Mount Gambier, thank you for your contribution. With that, I note the report.

Motion carried.

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