Page 1665 - Week 06 - Thursday, 13 August 1992
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Belconnen Remand Centre - HIV Education Courses
MRS CARNELL: My question is to Mr Connolly. The Canberra Times on 12 August carried a story, and a very nice photograph too, of Mr Connolly presenting certificates to detainees at the Remand Centre following their completion of an AIDS awareness course. Could Mr Connolly please tell the Assembly how he believes that the very valuable information contained in this course is going to be put into practice if neither condoms nor bleach for sterilising syringes is available for the detainees?
MR CONNOLLY: As I have indicated on a number of occasions, I am keen to have those kits available. I take a broad view of this and I do not try to make cheap political stunts out of it. The availability of the condoms and the bleach is far closer now than it was some months ago because of the actions that we have taken to ensure that HIV education courses are run at the Remand Centre. Mrs Carnell would recall that, when this issue was last agitated, I indicated that the Government wanted to get these kits into the prisons, but we did not want to provoke an industrial dispute. We wanted to get some education campaigns running. We have done that, and yesterday we had the first presentation of the certificates for the education campaign.
I would say that the major threat that anyone is under is not in the ACT. In the Remand Centre, there is single person, single cell accommodation, and the opportunity for prisoners to mingle is pretty remote. In the New South Wales prison system, or in virtually any adult prison system, four persons, two persons or eight persons are locked in a cell. The prison officers have a look at 8 o'clock, then the lights go off and nobody knows what happens until 8 o'clock in the morning. That is perhaps when what the remandees have been taught may be put into practice.
Unfortunately, in no prison system in Australia have condoms been successfully introduced, because of industrial opposition. I believe that, with the occupational health and training courses for custodial officers that we have been running at the Remand Centre with the cooperation of the Public Sector Union, and with the training that we have now given remandees, it is close to the point where we can, with the support of both the custodial officers and the remandees, introduce the condoms. I will not give you a date. I will say that we are working towards it.
What has happened in the past few months shows how we are working towards it by laying down ground rules. I do not want to provoke an industrial stunt or a political stunt over this. I want to have condoms and bleach in the prisons. Some people would say that needles should be made available as well, but I say that they should not be. However, bleach and condoms should be. I think we are very close to achieving that. We have had cooperation from the custodial officers and the unions in getting the education courses up and running, and that is the essential precursor.
Ms Follett: Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the notice paper.
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