House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-12-01 Daily Xml

Contents

Adelaide Remand Centre

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (15:36): My question is to the Premier. Given that this is the first escape from the Remand Centre in decades, does the Premier still believe that the privatisation of a maximum security prison is a good idea?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (15:36): I thank the honourable member for the question. I would repeat what I said earlier: I think that at the moment this is certainly not the time to be playing petty political games. I want to remind the Leader of the Opposition of what he did in 2017, when he was the Minister for Correctional Services, in regard to—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Correctional Services has the call.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Sir, as I did point out, there will be a comprehensive investigation into what has happened, I promise you that. As I pointed out, any escape from any secure facility is certainly a concern, and the priority at the moment is to make sure that we can apprehend this individual and bring him back into custody. That's our priority at the moment. Our priority is not about playing petty politics with this issue at the moment.