Page 2644 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 21 September 2022
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Minister, how do you expect the detainees to integrate back into society when the majority have not been receiving any helpful education to help them get their lives back on track for close to a year?
MR GENTLEMAN: I thank Mrs Kikkert for the question; it is an important one. Indeed, we have been struggling to get educational services for detainees, but the commissioner is doing his best to roll those out in the near future.
It does, as Mrs Kikkert said, make an important contribution for detainees to come back into society with some skills and some opportunities to learn into the future. We do expect those educational courses to resume as soon as we can provide the tender support for that.
MRS KIKKERT: Minister, would it be accurate to say that for close to a year now most detainees in the AMC have not been receiving any form of education that would result in a recognised qualification, which would help them once they leave the AMC.
MR GENTLEMAN: I will refer Mrs Kikkert to the detailed answers we did provide on this matter during estimates. We do want to do the best we can for those detainees, and it has been a struggle to provide those service provisions in the AMC. We do recognise the importance of the skills that can be provided, and we are doing our very best to get them rolling as soon as we can.
MR PARTON: Minister, when do you plan to have chosen a preferred tenderer, and when do you plan for that tenderer to start providing education services at the AMC?
MR GENTLEMAN: The commissioner has been onto that—as we speak. I do not know how far along the decision-tree he has reached. I will find out and come back to the chamber.
Waste—green waste services relocation
MR CAIN: Madam Speaker, my question is to the Minister for City Services. Minister, earlier this week your government highlighted that there would in fact be a green waste facility in Belconnen, despite the DA being rejected. Will you guarantee that a green waste facility will be opened in west Belconnen?
MR STEEL: I thank the member for his question. As he knows, due to the move of Canberra Sand and Gravel from Parkwood in the future, to facilitate the development of the Ginninderry subdivision, we need to move the green waste facilities on the north side. We have been undertaking extensive planning on those matters for a while, about where those types of facilities could be located. That is why we lodged a development application for the preferred site, which unfortunately has been rejected by the independent ACT Planning and Land Authority.
We are continuing to work through the issues that have been raised by ACTPLA in the planning process and will continue to work through the planning system to deliver a green waste facility for Belconnen. We will look at the issues raised, and we are
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