Page 948 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 21 April 2021
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
gardens, walking tracks and their own kitchens and lounge rooms. Having seen both the women’s accommodation and their former cottages, it is clear to me that one area is very superior to the other. Strangely, the decision to supplant the women from their comfortable cottages and give the cottages to the men came from the leader of the Greens—the same Greens who are supposed to be famed, far and wide, for their strong feminist zeal and for fighting for gender equality, though I think by now the ACT Greens are beginning to become more well-known in the Canberra community for their spineless lip-service.
The same Greens who promised, during the election, to disrupt the current patriarchal system, lined up behind Greens Minister Rattenbury, the ultimate supplanter of women at the AMC. If a women’s caucus across the aisle is looking at priority women’s issues or to disrupt the current patriarchal system, they should break ranks with the male-led Greens and Labor parties and come join the female-led Liberal party in improving the lot of women at the AMC.
I also note that the budget spoke of an industrial building at the reintegration centre for the purpose of enhancing employment opportunities for detainees when they are released. This sounds as if it would have been an excellent idea if properly administered and planned. The government likes to brag, from time to time, about a high level of employment at the AMC. At face value they are correct; there is a relatively high level of employment among detainees. What they leave out is that many of the employment opportunities are not exactly rehabilitative or likely to upskill detainees. Of the roughly 35 employment positions for detainees at the AMC, 15 are primarily dedicated to cleaning, sweeping and emptying bins.
While these positions are necessary and are undoubtedly good skills and habits to have, they do not go very far in upskilling detainees so that they are more competitive in the workforce upon release. They also do not go far in reducing boredom amongst detainees, which can lead to problems down the line. Whether or not the reintegration centre is ever built, enhanced employment opportunities for inmates—opportunities that are engaging for the mind and body and which allow for upskilling in a competitive job market—are a must. Anything less is a gross disservice to the inmates and a mark of shame against this government, which may as well be asking for recidivist detainees.
I would like to close with a couple of quotes. The first is in relation to women in the prison:
Women adapt to prison very differently to men. The loss of control over place, space and time affects women prisoners’ sense of self and personal identity differently to the way the same losses affect men. … For women, control over environment and space are even more important because of the tendency of women to internalise emotional and psychological stress, which increases their risk of self-harm.
In their cottages, the women had a much greater degree of control over the environment than they have now. I understand that, in a changing prison environment, plans can change and undesirable interim circumstances can arise, but plans need to change once again. The women cannot be left where they are any longer. The increase
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video