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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-12-03 Daily Xml
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Prison Infrastructure

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (14:16): My question is to the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall government is delivering on its plans to improve the safety and security of South Australia?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:16): I thank the member for Heysen for his very important question and the opportunity to update the house on the recent significant ongoing investment that we have made into our corrections system. As you know, at the March 2018 election we took a strong plan and we are delivering on that strong plan. Again, I thank the member for Heysen—

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —for his interest on this side of the house. I know he is very interested. In fact, a few months ago he went out and visited some of our prisons and had a good look at what the Marshall government is doing to make sure we are improving and making sure we are keeping South Australia safe and secure. The Marshall government came into power and we made a very strong commitment to deliver more jobs and better services, and that's exactly what we are doing. In the past few months—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Elizabeth is warned.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —we have committed another $67 million to building on South Australia's security, and that goes on the back of a significant investment in our first budget of an extra 310 beds into the system—270 into the Yatala system and another 40 into the Women's Prison. That's a $200 million investment there as well—again, a significant infrastructure investment that was left to go to rack and ruin by those opposite when they were in power. But it's okay: we are here to fix it. We are here to get the job done and deliver better services for South Australia.

Of course, with that have come construction jobs as well. The construction industry has been very buoyed by the work we have been doing there. Added to that as well, as part of the rehabilitation program, as we move to the 10by20 target that we are shooting for—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hurtle Vale is called to order.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: They chortle away on the other side, Mr Speaker. They don't like the fact that we have put $270 million into security and safety, making sure we are keeping people safe.

Mr Duluk interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Waite is warned.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by those opposite, part of the work we have done is actually getting people within the prisons working. We know that if we get them working it gives them a better opportunity when they get out—a better opportunity to get a job, a better opportunity to contribute back to society. As part of those developments, it's great to see a number of the women in the prison doing this work and upskilling themselves. It's been great to meet people who have left prison and have gone on to get jobs because of this work that we have been doing.

Another thing we have done just recently is we have invested $15 million into the new iSAFE system, a brand-new computerised management system. Under the previous government, they were left within the corrections system to be working on an old green screen, an old DOS computer system that was as old as the hills. People were really struggling to hand information between departments to make sure that we were sharing the right information to keep South Australians safe. It was not letting departments speak from one department to another.

This new iSAFE system will be able to do that. It will make sure that we can speak between agencies, share information and keep South Australians safe. A lot of this came on the back of the findings from the Lindt cafe siege in New South Wales. There were several recommendations made on the back of that. We thought to act because we know that for 16 years those opposite left this system to go to rack and ruin. They did not invest and they did not put back into these systems to make sure that we keep people safe.

On this side of the house, we know how important it is to keep people safe. We know that that is vitally important. On the back of the recommendations from the Lindt cafe siege, we have invested in an iSAFE system to make sure—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Reynell is warned.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —that we can talk across agencies. They are part of the better services we are supplying to South Australia—the $52 million, as I said at the most recent budget: rapid response, district policing model, fixated threats, now the iSAFE system, as well as building better prisons in South Australia. The Marshall Liberal government is delivering.

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