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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-08-08 Daily Xml
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Prisoner Reoffending

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:14): My question is to the Minister for Correctional Services. Can the minister update the council on the government's target to reduce reoffending?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:15): I thank the Hon. Mr Hanson for his question on an important subject. I know the Hon. Mr Hanson is always interested in high-quality public policy, and I think the government's effort to re-augment or recalibrate its focus with respect to correctional services towards reoffending is something that fits squarely in that category.

It has been widely reported that in South Australia the prison population continues to grow. I was recently at a ministerial conference in Sydney amongst other correctional services ministers, and this is an experience that is not unique to South Australia, with most other jurisdictions around the country currently going through a set of situations that is resulting in substantially higher prison populations, with rates of growth continuing to increase in some states in particular.

That was something that became obvious to me relatively quickly upon becoming Minister for Correctional Services, along with the fact that 75 per cent of our current prison population, or thereabouts, has been in prison at least once before. That comes on the back of a reoffending rate that sits at approximately 46 per cent. I have spoken previously in the chamber about the substantial cost that reoffending has for our community in a number of different ways, not least of which is that reoffending means our community is less safe than it would otherwise be if that rate was lower. Reoffending also means additional people coming back into the gaol system, presenting a very substantial cost to the South Australian taxpayer, with locking people up having a cost that is in the order of $100,000 per annum.

For these reasons, we are seeking to make the reoffending rate a key performance indicator for the performance of the criminal justice system generally, and particularly the Department for Correctional Services. On the back of that, the state government, last year, set a bold target to reduce the rate of reoffending by 10 per cent by the year 2020. Following a substantial exercise to review the system, we are now driving a shift in policy.

As I have been visiting staff across the sector, it has been pleasing to see that the setting of the target has provided staff within the Department for Correctional Services with a goal to aim for. I have been thoroughly impressed by the manner in which this mission has been adopted by those who will ultimately be at the coalface and endeavouring to meet it.

On 13 July, I was able to release our comprehensive plan, which outlines how we intend to reach the target. The Reducing Reoffending action plan is available online at the Department for Correctional Services website and provides a blueprint for how we are going to achieve a reduction in recidivism in South Australia.

Our strategy has been informed by best practice around the world, and that was looked at by the Reducing Reoffending strategy panel, which was chaired by Warren Mundine and had a number of other experts on the panel. They put forward 36 recommendations fitting within six themes. If the target is realised, South Australia will indeed become a national leader with respect to reoffending rates. The 10% by 2020 initiative sits in stark contrast to that of our political opponents, whose policy to date has focused on scaremongering.

During estimates, the Liberal spokesman assured me that he had read every word of our plan and teased this out with us with respect to some ideas that have been contemplated within the Liberal Party party room. In the state budget, the Department for Correctional Services received an additional $40 million of funding that will be invested in reducing the rate of reoffending by 10 per cent by the year 2020, which underpins a whole of system change in offender management.

The action plan seeks to achieve a number of different outcomes through a few different key programs. The first one is the $18.9 million investment in the new foundations program, which focuses on accommodation and support services for those who are released from prison who lack suitable housing and are at risk of being released from prison into homelessness and then in turn reoffending. The program will support offenders who are eligible for a form of release yet remain in custody due to a lack of suitable accommodation.

Another $9.2 million has been allocated to a program called Work Ready, Release Ready, which is an education and vocational training program for those in prison, with supports to enable offenders to secure employment upon release through a job network provider. On top of that, $12.5 million has been allocated to increase the capacity of rehabilitation programs, including family violence, sex offending and drug and alcohol programs.

In addition to funded programs, the government will support the development of an Aboriginal framework for correctional services and also the investigation of a community transition and learning centre to rehabilitate Aboriginal offenders from remote communities. The reality is, the majority of people within our prison system will be released. What is important is that when they do get released, we give them every prospect of having success on the outside at making a positive contribution to the community, rather than a negative one through reoffending. If we are able to achieve this, of course, we will have a safer community, but we will also have saved the South Australian taxpayer a lot of money in the process.

This is a fundamental policy shift and will be life changing for would-be victims of crime that may be prevented from becoming so as a result of offenders turning their lives around. It also is a policy that speaks to a social justice mission that I hope all of us feel, providing an opportunity for those who want to make a positive contribution to the community to serve and to see that opportunity being realised and turning their lives around making a positive contribution.

The Hon. S.G. Wade: Rack 'em, pack 'em and stack 'em.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: Well, the rack 'em, pack 'em and stack 'em policy that the Hon. Mr Wade refers to—

The Hon. S.G. Wade: It only lasted 14 years.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: —I think is very much dead and buried in light of this government's commitment to reduce reoffending, which I think is a good thing and stands in stark contrast to the valueless Liberal Party that we have in South Australia.

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