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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
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Adelaide Remand Centre

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (14:35): My question is again to the Minister for Correctional Services. Can the minister guarantee that the pay and conditions of corrections officers who choose to remain at the privatised Adelaide Remand Centre will remain unchanged under the new operators?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:35): That's a commercial decision for the new provider at the Adelaide Remand Centre.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Boyer interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright is warned.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: I thank the member for giving me the opportunity in this question to talk about the Better Prisons program again and outline the detail. I want to stress the point that this all began back in September last year. We were going through this process and we said—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Deputy Premier and the member for West Torrens, please!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —we would be outsourcing the management of the Adelaide Remand Centre, but we also said that we would expanding the prison beds because of the fiasco left by those opposite and that we will putting more beds into the Northfield site. I have made it abundantly clear—

Mr Picton interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Kaurna is warned.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —that there would be 310 extra beds. With that, I went to the Remand Centre on budget day and spoke to the workers there and told them that their jobs within the public corrections system are guaranteed. So they've got their jobs, and they are more than welcome to stay in the public corrections system and work at the Northfield site—

Mr Odenwalder: For less pay. You can stay for less pay.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: No, listen, listen.

The SPEAKER: The member for Elizabeth is warned.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Unblock your ears and listen.

Mr Picton: You said it was commercial-in-confidence.

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

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: There is a problem with them. They don't want to hear what is going on.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Industry and Skills said something about unions. Please!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Again, I will go over old ground because they are not listening, Mr Speaker. When we said we would outsource the management of the Remand Centre, I went down and spoke to every worker there and said, 'Your job within the public corrections system is safe. You will have a position at the Northfield site.'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Stand by. Now you are wanting to listen. I like it. You are starting to get the hang of how this job works now.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Good man. Be quiet and listen on that side of the house. We'll talk, you listen—you're getting the hang of it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: I'm trying to be nice, but it is just going a step too far, Mr Speaker. I'm trying to—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I am trying to listen to the minister's answer.

Ms Stinson interjecting:

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

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Let me make the point again, just so that it is clear—and they will probably ask me another question and I will probably have to give the same answer again, but I am okay with doing that.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Because you don't listen to the answers.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Again, everyone at the Adelaide Remand Centre is guaranteed their job within the city at the Northfield site. They can transfer there and work there; that's fine.

An honourable member: We know that.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Good. Well, he didn't, so have a chat to him because he's not listening.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Give him a brief.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: You've been gone for a bit. You've handed him the piece of paper, but he's got no idea what's going on because you take the questions from him—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —whenever you think he can't handle it. We all know what you're doing; it's fine. Anyway, let's get back to it. They can get their positions at the Northfield site. They can keep their jobs at the Northfield site. The new contractor will advertise for people to go.

Someone could choose to go there. They might want to go and work for Serco and think, 'You know what? This is a great opportunity, a multinational company. We can go and work anywhere in the world. We can advance our career.' That may be their choice, and they have the choice. We like to give people choice on this side of the house.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Minister, please be seated for one moment. The member for West Torrens has a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The minister is clearly debating the answer.

The SPEAKER: The question was about whether there was some kind of guarantee of pay conditions moving forward. I have the point of order. In fairness to the minister, he was being interjected on. He is starting to go a little bit off track and I ask him to come back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Again, I stress the point that what we are talking about are the working conditions—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —that the question was aimed at. Again, I stress the point that they can go and work at the Northfield site and stay with the public corrections system. That is a guarantee given to them in September last year, and we are delivering on that guarantee. They don't like it when we deliver on a guarantee, either; it upsets them greatly.

As I stressed, they could actually decide, 'You know what? I am going to apply and work with Serco and try to work my way through that company and progress my career.' That is entirely their choice. We want to give them choice. They could also sit down and have a chat and say, 'You know what? I might go and work in one of the regional prisons.' We've got some great regional prisons: Murray Bridge, Port Augusta, Port Lincoln. They might choose to do that, too. That's choice. They get the choice. I hope that those on the other side understand what that means. So, that's the position we promised, that's what we have delivered, and we are moving forward with our Better Prisons program.

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