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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (29 June) . . Page.. 2343 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

commission on the surrogacy reference-not, I am sure, for want of diligence by the members but because it simply has not been provided with a secretariat to support any deliberations which it may wish to undertake in relation to the surrogacy reference. A report on surrogacy would be of great benefit to the members of the Assembly when they come to deliberate on the Chief Minister's Artificial Conception Amendment Bill 2000.

Also missing from the appropriation is any capital works allocation for the new prison. Each time, the Attorney says that he will be relying on the tender process to indicate what the cost will be and then he will decide on whether to have a private or public jail. Every time he gives that spiel, I think of that drover's dog. It knows it is going to go somewhere but does not really have any idea where. It is okay for the dog perhaps, but it creates a terrible problem for the drover.

The select committee pointed out that there may be probity issues if the government decides to publicly finance, own or manage the ACT prison facility.

MR SPEAKER: Order! The member's time has expired. Would you like to take your next 10 minutes, Mr Stanhope?

MR STANHOPE: Yes, I would, thank you, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: Proceed.

MR STANHOPE: The select committee pointed out that there may be probity issues if the government decides to publicly finance, own or manage the ACT prison facility after it has received commercial-in-confidence material from private prison operators as part of a competitive tendering procedure. There are other concerns about this government managing a prison. The Belconnen Remand Centre is under the government's management. It is always overcrowded. It is shockingly overcrowded, and it has been shockingly overcrowded for years. The staff is operating under stressful conditions. From time to time detainees need to be sent to Goulburn to relieve the pressure. Will the same safety valve be available when the ACT has its own prison, or will the remand centre be refurbished to keep its original purpose?

The government also currently manages the Periodic Detention Centre. Information supplied by the Attorney in answer to a question on notice raises concerns about the quality of that management. Offenders sentenced to periodic detention regularly have their sentences extended or are granted leave of absence for non-attendance. What will happen when the government is managing a 300-bed prison catering for prisoners with a variety of security risk ratings? This government's record in relation to the management of detainees is appalling.

Fortunately, there is additional money for the police. The government finally has taken note of the rising crime statistics and taken action. I note the report in the Canberra Times this morning about the great job the AFP has done in stopping several one-person crime waves. It is unfortunate that the report does not say what period those records covered. My colleague Mr Hargreaves has mentioned the crime statistics that were reported yesterday, and we now know that we have the highest per capita burglary rate in

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