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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-09-27 Daily Xml
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Prisoner Numbers

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:41): Supplementary question: why would your agency provide evidence to the Public Works Committee that it is going to be 404 above the capacity, if you have this wonderful strategy in place? Clearly they don't believe you?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:41): Rest assured, Mr President, that this government is doing everything we can—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Your agency said it was going to be 404 above capacity—

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: —to reduce the demand on the prison system.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: —so they don't believe you.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: The nature of prisons—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: The people involved with it, they don't believe you.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: The nature of prisons—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister has the floor.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: The nature of predicting prison populations is an incredibly complex task, and I am sure the honourable member would be aware of the fact that there is a range of inputs that contribute to the size of the prison population in South Australia, including the potential growth. He would also be aware, if he paid any attention to remarks that I have made in this place for a sustained period of time, that if we can reduce the rate of reoffending that will, of course, make a significant contribution to reducing the demand that exists within our prison system, but in the short and medium term, the state government has been investing substantial amounts of money to increase the number of beds that exist within the prison system. We will be able to deal with any demand that is coming our way in regard to prisons, but in the long term we have to have a more sustained strategy.

It is not okay for the government of the day to be spending more and more of taxpayers' dollars on the prison system. It costs between $70,000 to $100,000 per annum to lock someone up. The solution is not the one that, I think, the Hon. Mr Ridgway seems to be referring to, that we should just be spending more money, ad infinitum into the future, on building more and more prison beds. I would rather the government have a more sophisticated and considered approach, a more sophisticated and thought-through strategy about what we are doing with correctional services in the long term, which is why I have committed this state government's policy towards reducing the rate of reoffending.

We have taken the bold approach of setting a target, which I suspect the opposition and, indeed, members of the public will hold me and the government to account on. Our target is to reduce the rate of reoffending by 10 per cent by the year 2020. That is all but one step in trying to progress the correctional services system in the right direction to be able to deal with a longer term, well thought out approach into what we do in regard to correctional services, to not only reduce the demand that exists on the prison service vis-a-vis the South Australian taxpayer but also achieve a fundamental objective of this state government, which is to make the community safer.

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