Page 1534 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2016
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Omit all words after “notes”, substitute:
“(a) the recent concerning rise in the number of Indigenous detainees at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC), which has been reflected in data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics;
(b) the Minister for Corrections’ recent public comments regarding the need to better understand and respond to these increased rates of incarceration;
(c) the ACT escape from secure custody rates for 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 was zero. The 2015-16 year-to-date for escape from secure custody rate is in the order of 0.26 (noting that this is not the final figure and can vary depending on adjustments in detainee numbers across the reporting year);
(d) the real net operating expenditure, per prisoner per day over the past five years has reduced from $355.37 to $296.04 in 2014-15;
(e) the real net operating expenditure, per prisoner per day for 2015-16 year-to-date is $282, and this figure accounts for significant investment in critical infrastructure; and
(f) the unique nature of the AMC in providing detention for both sentenced and remand detainees and male and female detainees, and all security classifications; and
(2) calls on the Minister for Corrections to report back to the Assembly by the last sitting week of August on the result of any data analysis regarding the recent increase in Indigenous detainees at the AMC”.
In the interests of providing information to members of the Assembly and, through this place, to the broader community we serve, I have moved this amendment which I believe will go further towards providing useful data as well as underlining the challenges of working in the corrections portfolio.
There is a real and genuine concern in the community, and I am sure in this place as well, regarding the increase in the rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander incarceration in the ACT. We have seen a spike in recent times. It has occurred quite quickly. The incarceration rate of Indigenous people in the territory is too high. It is lower than in other jurisdictions; nonetheless it is too high. As Mr Wall pointed out in his remarks, it is significantly higher than for the non-Indigenous community in this jurisdiction, as it is in other jurisdictions.
There has been much discussion about that for many years. Certainly, the ACT has seen a rapid increase in recent times. I am very concerned about that, and I was concerned about it before this motion came forward today. Mr Wall may be interested to learn that I have been looking at it for some time, indeed, before I was asked about it by the Canberra Times recently. That is why I was reported as saying that I had directed ACT Corrective Services to undertake some data analysis on its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, look at why they are in custody and provide
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