Page 1288 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 5 April 2011
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Emergency Services) (10.29): For the information of members, I present the following papers:
ACT Corrective Services and Alexander Maconochie Centre—Reviews—
Independent Review of Operations at the Alexander Maconochie Centre—ACT Corrective Services, prepared by Knowledge Consulting—
Report, dated 12 March 2011.
Appendices, dated 12 March 2011.
Provision of Specific Consultancy Services to Review ACT Corrective Services Governance including in relation to Drug Testing at the Alexander Maconochie Centre, dated 1 April 2011.
Motion (by Mr Corbell), by leave, agreed to:
That the papers be authorised for publication.
MR CORBELL: I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the papers.
Mr Speaker, today I bring to the attention of the Assembly two reports on the Alexander Maconochie Centre. In October 2009 the government committed to undertake a review of the Alexander Maconochie Centre after 12 months of operation. In February 2010 the Assembly also passed a motion calling on the government to conduct such a review. As I reported in August last year, the government engaged an independent reviewer, Knowledge Consulting, in April to conduct the review. Knowledge Consulting specialises in consulting in the field of corrections. The Managing Director of Knowledge Consulting, Mr Keith Hamburger AM, headed the review. Mr Hamburger spent nine years as the Director-General of Corrective Services in Queensland. Other members of the team provide expertise in a range of relevant areas, including health, security, nutrition and financial matters.
Mr Speaker, since the time of commissioning the first report, members would be aware that I became aware of a matter about drug testing of detainees on their admission to the AMC. I was advised that information about urinalysis testing of detainees on their admission to the AMC was wrong. I took immediate action to disclose this matter to the Assembly and I also took action to have the matter investigated—as a good, open and accountable government should do. As a result, I again engaged the services of Mr Hamburger’s firm to investigate this matter.
In relation to the first report, the report on the review of operations at the Alexander Maconochie Centre, the government welcomes the report. It is substantial, comprehensive and thorough and has been prepared based on wide consultation both within government and externally. Detainees of the AMC too have been consulted. The report makes 192 findings and 128 recommendations. The government accepts the overall direction of this important report. I am pleased to say that Knowledge Consulting has made many positive findings. The report acknowledges that establishing a correctional centre presents many challenges. As the report states, the
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