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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-03-20 Daily Xml
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Prisons, Community Partnerships

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (14:41): My question is to the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. Piccolo: It might be commercial-in-confidence.

The SPEAKER: The member for Light is warned.

Mr Boyer interjecting:

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

Mr Brown: Spell it out.

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford can leave for half an hour under 137A.

The honourable member for Playford having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond has the call. I would like to hear the question.

Members interjecting:

Mr PEDERICK: I'll just wait a bit longer.

The SPEAKER: Time is ticking, member for Hammond.

Mr PEDERICK: It doesn't bother me. I've got all day, mate. It's your question time. Can the minister inform the house how community partnerships are delivering better services in our prisons?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:42): I thank the member for Hammond for his question. What a great question from a great local member, a man who cares about his community. It was wonderful to be in Murray Bridge the other week with the member for Hammond to have a tour of Mobilong Prison—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —to have a look at what is happening up there. We were both very impressed with the facilities there, the way that they are engaging with the people at Mobilong Prison with the inmates there and some of the programs they are running. The music program, in particular, was absolutely outstanding. The educational offerings as well in this facility were wonderful.

Also, we were both impressed with the Greyhound Adoption Program that is running out of Mobilong Prison. The people we spoke to there, the prisoners we had a chat to, were over the moon with being involved with the animals, the dogs. They are there for about a six-week period and then they are fostered out. It's a wonderful win for the greyhounds and also a great win for the prison. As you have heard time and time again in this place, the Marshall government is committed to delivering better services.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: That's what we are very focused on. It's the commitment we took to the election, and I know that the member for Hammond, too, is very insistent on making sure we have better services in the regions.

Within the correctional services department, we have some wonderful workers working in this space. It was a pleasure to be at the 2019 DCS merit awards at the Town Hall recently to look at some of the community partnerships that are going on within DCS and the community. It's great how these partnerships get really good outcomes for all of South Australia. We want people to break that cycle of reoffending that I know the Leader of the Opposition is very focused on. We have a bipartisan approach on that, and that is what we are working towards delivering on.

One of these programs that won an award was the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Working Group, a partnership between the NDIS and DCS. This partnership is focused on addressing the needs of people with disabilities to support DCS's transition to the NDIS. The NDIS Working Group includes representation from DCS's rehabilitation programs branch, Sentence Management Unit and Statewide Operations. The NDIS Working Group meets fortnightly to discuss individual prisoner offenders, NDIS applications and status, and to coordinate NDIA access to prison sites so that the commonwealth can conduct NDIS planning sessions face to face with prisoners. Again, that is a great group doing great work within our prison system.

The Work Ready, Release Ready partnership again partnered with Workskil. This is fantastic, giving people work experience so that when they are released out of prisons they can get a job, which we know is vitally important to making sure that we break that cycle of reoffending, and I know that the Leader of the Opposition greatly supports our moves in these areas. I am proud to have launched this partnership last year at the Women's Prison and having Workskil involved in this. It is taking place now at Mobilong, Port Augusta, Cadell, Adelaide Women's Prison and the Pre-release Centre.

Connecting with People was another partnership that won an award. That involves the corrections department, the SA Prison Health Service, the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, UniSA and the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist. This is connecting people with an internationally recognised evidence-based suicide and self-harming mitigation and prevention training program for both clinical and non-clinical staff. The community partnership bases of this program mean that staff gain the knowledge, skills, competence and confidence required to deliver high-quality care to people at risk of suicide.

The Greyhound Adoption Program I mentioned—again, at the Mobilong Prison—was outstanding. Matt Corby, the Chief Executive of Greyhound Racing SA, was there to accept that award. I do recommend that if anyone gets the chance to go to the greyhounds, you can often see the GAP dogs out there. I am sure that the member for Hammond will agree that it's not uncommon nowadays to walk around Murray Bridge and see one of the greyhounds; or down on the beaches along our coast, you will see people with the greyhounds. Coco is a favourite, as the member for Waite attests.

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