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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-05-07 Daily Xml
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APY LANDS INQUIRY

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:28): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Correctional Services a question in relation to the Mullighan inquiry.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: In September 2005, a feasibility study was completed into the development of a low-level security correctional facility on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands as an alternative to imprisonment for some categories of Aboriginal offenders on the lands. The Mullighan inquiry, which was released yesterday, notes:

In view of dysfunctioning communities on the lands, violence, drug and alcohol abuse and issues of retribution and payback, it is difficult to see how any corrections facility could be of low level security. Prisoners would have to be kept secure for the protection of the community as well as their own protection.

Later in the report the commissioner states:

The inquiry was informed that it would be financially cheaper for the Department of Corrections to have a contractual relationship with the provider of aircraft services to transport the prisoners to and from the correctional facility at Port Augusta than to keep them for substantial periods in a facility on the lands.

Considering it is approaching three years since the feasibility study was completed, I ask the minister the following questions:

1. Has a decision been made as to whether a correctional facility will be established on the APY lands and, if not, when will it be made?

2. Has a decision been made as to whether the facility will be managed by the Department for Correctional Services or another agency of government?

3. Considering the adverse reflection by commissioner Mullighan on the feasibility of a low-level security facility, will the government review the security level of the possible facility?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:30): I thank the honourable member for his question. I am fairly certain that the Hon. Robert Lawson might have asked that question previously and I advised the chamber that the Department for Correctional Services had completed a feasibility study for a low-security correctional facility that was to be based on the APY lands. The then Social Development Committee agreed on an exploratory business case to be undertaken and, when that occurred, it was noted by cabinet but then referred to the minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation for consideration in the context of broader government initiatives for the APY lands. The report was provided to the APY lands executive at the time. Clearly, it would have posed many other concerns and issues as well, ranging from where it could be placed and, indeed, who would be running it.

The recommendation of commissioner Mullighan is referring to a facility for remand prisoners, as I read it, which would have different requirements from those of a low-level security facility. The government will be considering all the recommendations, as well as the one made in recommendation 46.

I do want to place on record that over the next couple of months and in the next financial year the government will be building 10 beds for traditional Aboriginal men at Port Augusta. In relation to the comment read out by the honourable member, as to whether it is cheaper for the department to have a contractual relationship with a provider of aircraft services, I can say that at the moment the department is investigating its options in relation to taking prisoners who have been remanded to Port Augusta. Essentially, that is the position: we are considering our options.

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