Page 420 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 4 March 2008
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Are you saying that Belconnen Remand Centre is the standard to which we should aspire? Are you saying that? I invite you, Mr Pratt: have you ever been out to Belconnen Remand Centre? Have you seen it? Have you looked at it? Have you seen the conditions prisoners have to put up with in that facility?
Mrs Burke: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.
MR CORBELL: I challenge you, Mr Pratt, to go out and see Belconnen Remand Centre and then make your judgements on this matter.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Corbell! Resume your seat.
Mrs Burke: I ask the member to direct his comments through you, sir.
MR SPEAKER: I think the minister has concluded his answer. A supplementary question from Mr Pratt?
MR PRATT: Minister, how will watching TV on flat-screen LCD TVs help prisoners “reflect on their behaviour” and “improve themselves”?
MR CORBELL: From what Mr Pratt is saying, it sounds like he thinks that Belconnen Remand Centre and the yards there are satisfactory for the management of prisoners.
Mrs Dunne: Point of order, Mr Speaker. There was no mention—
MR CORBELL: That is simply—
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Corbell.
Mrs Dunne: There was no mention of the Belconnen Remand Centre in Mr Pratt’s question. Could the minister please answer the question in relation to LCD TVs installed in the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
MR SPEAKER: The minister is required to address the subject matter, but he also said that Mr Pratt’s question sounded like something. It depends what he is hearing, but stick to the subject matter of the question, please.
MR CORBELL: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Of course, we should remember that Mr Seselja as Leader of the Opposition said that we have to have particular regard to those who are most vulnerable in our society and most reliant on government services, such as prisoners. Providing televisions to prisoners is not some dramatic and revolutionary step forward for the ACT. The provision of television sets for prisoners is common practice in jails around the country and around the world. The use of liquid crystal display televisions is not a luxury; it is not an extravagant technology. It is a low-cost technology and it is a sensible technology to use in the prison setting.
But the real hypocrisy of this has to come from Mr Seselja. On the one hand, he feigns and raises heartfelt concern for those most reliant on government services in our
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