Page 2928 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 13 August 2013
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effectively manage unsentenced offenders and community-based corrections programs and to provide important advice and services to the ACT justice system.
The ACT Corrective Services component of the budget will also allow continued planning for future requirements, and that particularly relates to the forward design work on the provision of additional accommodation options at the Alexander Maconochie Centre. Mr Hanson spoke about that at some length. I do not particularly see a need to reiterate his account of what has been provided with the various stages of that design work. But the work is progressing, and I think it is appropriate it is funded in this budget, given the needs that have emerged at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
Another key feature of the budget is that ACT Corrective Services has been identified as one of the areas that will go through a detailed review of its operations. This review will examine ongoing and recurrent expenses and determine the most effective delivery models to support strategic priorities. I welcome this opportunity to have a thorough look at the services that are provided by ACT Corrective Services to assess what are the true resources needed and whether efficiencies can be made and whether there are gaps in what is being addressed by ACT Corrective Services.
It is a tough job that ACT Corrective Services do. They receive people who often have very complicated and complex life stories and they come into the corrections system often having been through a series of other steps before they end up in jail. I commend the work the staff of ACT Corrective Services do in seeking to deal with the people that come to them. I also commend the many community organisations that assist ACT Corrective Services in providing contact with detainees in the Alexander Maconochie Centre. Many groups in the community provide a range of supports to detainees, and that amplifies the work Corrective Services are doing.
Since I have become the minister I have certainly been very impressed by the dedication of the staff in Corrective Services and their passion for making a difference in people’s lives; people who have, for a range of reasons, found themselves in the corrections system. The energy and enthusiasm of Corrective Services staff to both do a difficult job very professionally and try and make a difference to the lives of those detainees is very impressive.
I note recommendation 43 of the estimates committee, which the government does not agree with. This is where the committee recommends that the government provide the Assembly with details of recidivism rates for ACT prisoners for the last 10 years. Of course, this covers a period before the Alexander Maconochie Centre was opened when ACT prisoners were sent interstate to New South Wales to serve their sentences. The reason I did not agree to this recommendation and why the government took that position is consistent with the answer provided to a question taken on notice. Basically, while it may be technically possible for Corrective Services to undertake the work to retrospectively identify a recidivism rate for ACT detainees held in New South Wales prior to March 2009 when the Alexander Maconochie Centre opened, this would involve an extraordinary level of research and an allocation of resources I do not think can really be justified. Old records, including archived files, would need
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