Page 4467 - Week 15 - Thursday, 22 November 1990
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MR STEFANIAK (11.28): Again harking back to Mr Berry's criticism of my colleague Mr Collaery, stating that this Government has not taken any initiatives in this area, I think he does not read the papers, and perhaps he was not listening during the budget debate. The Deputy Chief Minister then indicated a number of reforms in the criminal justice and adult corrections area.
In the context of the budget he stated that the Government had started the process of reform of juvenile justice and adult corrective services in Canberra. He announced then - if Mr Berry had been here and listening he might have taken some note of it, but he obviously did not - that the Government had decided to implement a broad range of changes and undertake a major review of corrections.
One of the steps was a ministerial advisory committee to be appointed to provide advice on future policy directions in adult corrections and juvenile justice. That committee will advise on the development of a five-year strategic plan for both juvenile justice and adult corrections in the ACT. Funds were set aside for that committee to commission reviews on major aspects of its charter. It will advise on strategies to further reduce reliance on New South Wales institutions, strategies for greater community involvement in the delivery of programs, and associated training and evaluation.
There are other measures in the budget, Mr Berry, and they include the construction of a $1.4m building in Belconnen to house attendance centre programs. Those programs provide courts with a further range of sentencing options. Offenders are required to attend the centre and participate in programs designed to address the causes of offending behaviour.
Improvement in services for detainees with psychiatric disorders was also planned. Mr Berry, $560,000 will be spent on constructing new cells at the Belconnen Remand Centre. Having visited that centre on a number of occasions, I think that is a long overdue measure. Forensic psychiatric report services for the courts are to be expanded.
The escort of offenders, once they have been sentenced to prison, will be transferred from the AFP to the ACT Government Custodial Office, so that the New South Wales prison officials are provided with briefing and files on prisoners' psychiatric circumstances. That certainly will help those authorities place our prisoners properly. Mr Berry, that also takes away a service from the police, which means that more police can be more actively used in the ACT, rather than transporting people backwards and forwards to New South Wales. It is a most appropriate initiative.
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