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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-09-23 Daily Xml
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Public Works Committee: Adelaide Women's Prison Redevelopment

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:56): I move:

That the 131st report of the committee for the Fifty-Fourth Parliament, entitled Adelaide Women's Prison Redevelopment Project, be noted.

The Adelaide Women's Prison is the state's only dedicated women's prison and has the capacity to accommodate 256 female offenders with high, medium and low security ratings. The Adelaide Women's Prison provides a range of services and supports designed and tailored specifically for women in custody.

As part of the 2018-19 state budget, cabinet approved capital works funding of $20 million for the construction of a 40-bed accommodation unit, along with a new reception building and visits centre at the prison. The 40-bed residential-style accommodation was completed as part of the previously approved 40-bed high-security accommodation, health centre and admissions project. The new reception building and visits centre will provide security at point of entry for staff and visitors. The visits centre will offer a normalised family and visitor space that supports the interactive connection between mothers in custody and their children and increased continuity of access with family.

The total construction cost for the delivery of the project is $12.958 million. This includes construction costs, builders' preliminaries, construction escalation, locality loading, and construction and design contingency. The scope of works for the Women's Prison redevelopment project includes:

construction of two new buildings, the new reception building and a visits centre;

an upgrade of the northern sally port as it transitions to the main prison entrance;

an upgrade to the northern perimeter to support the northern sally port;

an upgrade of internal access and egress paths, with the construction of a new roadway from the northern sally port to the admissions and health centre; and

electronic security to meet the site digital security requirements.

Construction is expected to commence in January 2021, with completion anticipated during January 2022. The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to this project and received assurances that the appropriate consultation in relation to this project had been undertaken. I recommend the scope of the proposed works I have outlined to the house.

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (11:58): Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this report unexpectedly this morning. I support any infrastructure build in the prison system, and particularly in the Women's Prison. This project, of course, is a culmination of work begun in 2014. As the report noted, the Department for Correctional Services under the Labor government launched its first Women Offender Framework and Action Plan, Strong Foundations and Clear Pathways. It is something I believe in very strongly. As I have noted in this place before, I am extremely lucky that I have as a leader someone who is a former corrections minister and who takes these issues very seriously.

Whatever else we talk about in here, I know that, should we be lucky enough to win government and should I be lucky enough to become the Minister for Correctional Services, the leader will be on at me every day to improve the prison system in order to rehabilitate prisoners and to reduce recidivism for its own sake—because, after all, these are human beings we are talking about—and also for the sake of the safety of the community in South Australia. This is something the leader believes in very passionately. It is something I will be taking to the election and I will take it very seriously, should I be lucky enough to become the minister.

The Women's Prison, of course, is a very important facility. We know that women come to prison often for very different reasons to men. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

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