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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-10-14 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Prisons, Drug Use

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:47): My question is to the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services. Can the minister please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is delivering better services through the introduction of buffer zones in South Australian prisons?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (14:47): I thank the member for MacKillop for the question. Yes, this government is serious about cracking down on drugs in our prisons. Those of us on this side of the house know that we have a strong history when it comes to this. Not only are we taking a hard-line approach to drugs but we are also taking a hard-line stance against those people who attempt to introduce any kind of contraband into our facilities, whether it be smuggling drugs into prison or even going to more extreme lengths to introduce drugs with technology.

We saw in recent times that we made changes to the Correctional Services Act. Unfortunately, there are some out there who see fit to try to get drugs into our prisons. We saw this in recent times in Port Augusta, where an individual—he wasn't Robin Hood but he had a bow and arrow—tried to propel drugs over into one of our facilities. Lucky for us that, since changes that have come in that this government has made, we have been able to crack down on this sort of behaviour.

When we saw this attempt to introduce contraband into the prison, SAPOL were alerted, I am proud to say, and three people were actually arrested shortly after, and they have since been charged with introducing contraband into a correctional facility. It shows why these important changes that we made are necessary. We no longer need to wait for people to necessarily enter our prisons before they can be charged with contraband or drug offences. Any attempts now to bring drugs into our prisons are obviously completely unacceptable.

Thanks to the new buffer zones that have been created surrounding all South Australian prisons, visitors caught with drugs or prohibited items inside that zone can face hefty gaol time. This means that even if you bring controlled drugs into, say, a prison car park or have drugs around the perimeter fence or outside the visitor entrance or, in fact, onto any government owned land around South Australian prisons, you will risk a maximum penalty of up to 10 years' imprisonment.

Not content with buffer zones on the ground, we have also taken those restrictions right to the sky with buffer zones for the operation of what is otherwise known as a drone or a remotely piloted aircraft. We have seen the emergence of technology such as drones being used by people to attempt to bring in contraband drugs into our prison. That's why we have brought forward these important steps of introducing these offences for people who do the wrong thing. If you do operate one of these aircraft within 100 metres without the permission of the CE, you will face a maximum fine of $10,000 or up to two years' gaol.

We have seen a dramatic drop in the introduction of drugs into our prisons over the past months, particularly with the suspension of face-to-face visits in prison due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, I am pleased to inform the house that domestic visits will commence from Saturday 16 October, with bookings able to be made online. Critically, these visits, not only for visitors but also for family members and other people who may need to visit our prisons, are to be for people who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination. By 13 November, visits will only be able to occur between prisoners and their visitors who are actually fully vaccinated as well. That's to ensure that we keep our prisons, our staff and also the wider community safe.

I do acknowledge that a lot of people have made sacrifices when it comes to the temporary suspension of face-to-face visits. However, we have been able to facilitate Zoom calls right across the prison sites, and this has been fantastic. For some prisoners, they have been able to, through Zoom, look into their living room, see members of their family that they otherwise wouldn't have seen to maintain that important connection. Importantly, the majority of other prison services, including recreation and education and also the prison industry, have been able to continue during the period of the restrictions.

The SPEAKER: The minister's time has expired. The member for MacKillop is warned and the member for Wright is warned. I note that the member for Wright is very close to the edge.

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