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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 11 Hansard (21 October) . . Page.. 3488 ..

MR HARGREAVES (continuing):

We make comment in the report about the treatment of indigenous prisoners and those with special needs, and I echo Mr Osborne's words there. Do not think for one moment that suicide and self-harm are restricted to indigenous people because they are not, but they have provided us with the best example of what to do about it through the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. We should make sure that we adopt all of those recommendations.

I concur particularly strongly with the committee's thoughts on the need for the prison operator to have some responsibility for post-release transition and the rates of recidivism. It is my view that if we are going to embrace the continuum of justice and the restorative justice system we have to have a hands-on involvement by the prison system in the post-release programs. Also, if this Government, or any other government for that matter, is absolutely committed to a decent justice system, it will realise that the prison system itself is only one part of the restorative justice element in the post-release perspective. We need to make sure that the support services - the drug and alcohol support service and the anger management support - and bodies such as Prisoners Aid which have a valuable contribution to make to resettlement are adequately resourced. If they are not, we will perpetuate the 60-odd per cent recidivism rate in this Territory.

I would like to cast some doubt on the possibility of the prison costing $35m to build. If we look at the cost of the three private prisons in Victoria, we find that the 600-bed multifaceted prison at Port Phillip cost $54m, the 600-bed one at Fulham cost $54m, and the one for 150 women at Deer Park cost $16.5m. Economies of scale come into the cost of $54m and you do not just double the cost when you double the numbers. I would suggest that the Government should give some real thought to putting up its estimate. I would also suggest from the travels that we have done and the evidence that we have received that the number of remand prisoners be increased from the 50 originally envisaged to about 70. I think that it is important to do that. I also think that we ought to be putting into the prison a total bed capacity of 400, not 300. That, of course, would have an impact on the cost.

The Government may be dead right in saying that, from all of the numbers that it has stuck away in a filing cabinet somewhere and is not going to share with anybody, it will be a cheaper facility; but, heck, they would not be paying for it. They want to get the private sector to build, own and operate it and they want to abrogate totally their responsibilities for these people. Heck, they will not be paying for it, so what does it matter? They can ask for any number of beds if they like. In fact, they could even sell the spare capacity to New South Wales to cover Cooma, Queanbeyan and Bungendore. We know how many horrible little people live in those places! We should be able to fill it up quick smart! I think there is a good grab-for-cash possibility here, Mr Minister for Justice! You would be remiss in your duties if you did not cash in on that one!

The report touches on accountability and transparency. The Victorian Auditor-General, in looking into the state of the Port Phillip prison, revealed that he had the power to look into anything he liked, but did not have any power to tell anybody about it. That is wonderful! He was prevented from telling even the Victorian Parliament about it. We have to make sure that that does not happen by introducing specific legislation prohibiting the use of commercial-in-confidence protections for any government

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