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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 5 Hansard (9 May) . . Page.. 1301 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

recommendations of the committee, in particular a philosophy of reintegration and rehabilitation. Equally, the importance of transitional release programs must be emphasised.

Numerous reports have recognised the significant problems associated with the current practice of sending ACT prisoners to New South Wales correctional facilities. The inadequacies of the Belconnen Remand Centre are well documented. Recently, numbers in the Belconnen Remand Centre increased to 70, setting a dangerous and unfortunate new precedent which clearly highlights the inadequacies of the ACT's current correctional system. This has added to the urgency of the ACT establishing a prison. I therefore welcomed the inquiry and subsequent reports by the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety.

The first report agrees that a prison is justified, and addressed the site issue. The second report is very detailed. It contains 46 recommendations dealing with the philosophy of the prison and its operation. The government recognises that there are, in some quarters, philosophical objections to the establishment of a private prison. The government agrees with the committee that these are not strong enough to exclude the concept of a private prison in the ACT. The government also agrees that there must exist strong safeguards and performance monitoring measures to ensure that the public interest is protected.

The government agrees that a competitive tender process should be undertaken. One of our first tasks will be to establish a benchmark that the private sector must meet if the ACT is to establish a private prison. If the private sector cannot meet the benchmark, the ACT will not go ahead with a private prison.

The government response also addresses the experience in other jurisdictions that the availability of prison space in any new facility can lead to an increase in custodial sentences. To counteract this possibility, effective alternatives to imprisonment must be provided and supported. Alternative sentencing options will be continually re-examined with a view to keeping imprisonment as a sanction of last resort. These options will include periodic detention, home detention and community-based alternative programs for drug offenders. The government recognises that imprisonment should be reserved for the most serious of offenders. The government supports the notion that diversion, wherever possible, should be pursued.

The government is committed to a high level of community consultation and participation in the process leading to the establishment of the prison. This will include consultation with, and regular reports to, the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety, as well, of course, as the community panel on the prison which the government is in the process of establishing.

In conclusion, I am pleased to present to the Assembly the government's responses to the two reports by the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety.

Debate (on motion by Mr Hargreaves ) adjourned.

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