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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-09-05 Daily Xml
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New Foundations Program

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (15:16): Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Correctional Services. Can the minister explain how cutting investments to programs that reduce reoffending, such as the New Foundations program, improves community safety?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:16): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. He will know that there were no takers for the New Foundations program. We are still going to work on that program and try to implement it down the track. That is what is outlined in the budget papers.

Let me outline the problem that we have here and the mess we inherited. I don't think it's got through to the other side. I don't think they have got it through their heads yet. Maybe I wasn't clear enough, so let's just try again: we are spending $200 million on the public corrections system. That is $200 million putting more beds into Yatala and more beds into the Women's Prison—310 in total—and they are not happy about it. They don't want us investing in more beds to keep people safe.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order: the minister is debating the question. The question was about rehabilitation programs, not more beds.

The SPEAKER: The point of order is for debate. How cutting a certain project will improve safety I believe was the question.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman: But he already answered that.

The SPEAKER: I am sure the minister is coming back to the substance of the question. Minister.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Thank you, and I did answer it. We had to address the problem right at hand. The previous program didn't have any takers. We will keep working on finding takers for that program and expanding it as agencies come along. They failed to deliver that program. It was a program that they started and failed to get a taker for. Why didn't you deliver it? Because you couldn't. You weren't up to the task. What you were able to do was also fail to provide beds.

It is incongruous that you are upset with us because we are investing more money in the public prison system. I find it quite fascinating. These guys over here are giving us a hard time because we are putting 310 beds into the prison system. What that will do is grow jobs in the prison system. We have an ambition to have the best prison system in the world. That is our reform agenda, and we are driving that very hard. I make no apologies for investing money in our prison system to make sure we keep South Australians safe and to make sure we have the beds for the anticipated growth in our prison system. To me, it just makes perfect sense.

That is what we are doing: we are getting a private company in that will run the ARC (the Remand Centre). The people that are working there, I spoke to them last night and I want to take the opportunity to again guarantee them that they will have roles within the prison system at Yatala, at the Women's Prison or, if they want, they might choose to go with the new outsourced provider. They might decide, 'There's a great career opportunity for me here. I'll go with that.' They have been offered TVSPs, as has been mentioned by the Treasurer, right across the board.

They have choice. We will continue to work with them and engage with them and the PSA to make sure that they get the outcome they are looking for. Again, I stress the point: 150 jobs in the correctional system, and potentially another 50 in the other operations, will be absorbed into the system with our expansion at Yatala and with our expansion at the Women's Prison. It just flabbergasts me that those opposite are hounding down our investment in the corrections system. From the mess they left us, the mess that would have been there in 2020, we are delivering the outcomes that South Australians want.

The Hon. S.K. Knoll interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Transport is called to order.

Ms Stinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Badcoe is also called to order.

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