Page 202 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 14 December 2016
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What Mrs Jones has asked for today I think is a reasonable request. As she will indicate no doubt in closing, we will be supporting the amendment. But it is disappointing that Mr Rattenbury has sought to water the motion down, because it is not a particularly political motion. Mrs Jones notes a number of issues that have occurred that are a matter of fact. She lists a range of audits and inquiries that have been conducted that are a matter of record. She talks about issues that are on the public record.
Although we got a response from the minister—rather than coming into this place and owning up to the issues and saying, “Yes, there is a problem,” and detailing in a substantive way a consolidated response to all the reviews, to the inquiries that have occurred and what is the way forward for this jail—what I fear again is that it will be all sunshine and lollipops. As Mr Rattenbury said, these are just issues that pop up from time to time. A death in custody is not an issue that just pops up from time to time, nor are bashings, nor are escapes, nor are misuses of carriage systems. They are serious issues.
I am disappointed that, rather than acknowledging the problems and that it is a difficult environment—no-one is disputing that—and dealing with the problems head on, what we have seen again is this dismissive attitude from Mr Rattenbury: his laughing at Mrs Jones throughout her speech. These were not just interjections. It was dismissive of the serious issues that were being raised. Yes, we are going to have banter with each other and we can have interjections, but I think when we are dealing with substantive issues like deaths in custody, to behave the way Mr Rattenbury did is not helpful as a minister.
I commend Mrs Jones for bringing this matter before the Assembly. I am sure she will have much to say about the Alexander Maconochie Centre as we proceed, because it is important that we get this right. It is important that we take it seriously. It is important that the many inquiries and reviews that have been conducted are implemented fully and are not just dismissed, because many of the people that we are dealing with have done bad things. There is no doubt about that. Many of them have done bad things, but that does not take away our obligation to make sure that this jail is run properly, that it is secure and that it is a safe place for the prisoners, the remandees and the staff.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong—Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Minister for Justice and Consumer Affairs, Minister for Corrections and Minister for Mental Health): Under standing order 46 I wish to make a personal explanation.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Steel): You may proceed.
MR RATTENBURY: Either mistakenly or otherwise, Mr Hanson has just suggested that I laughed when Mrs Jones raised the issue of a death in custody. I think that Mr Hanson has made a mistake. I certainly would never laugh at such a matter. I laughed at some other assertions that Mrs Jones had made but the death in custody is a deeply tragic event, one that I am personally very troubled by and one that we would certainly never make light of in this place. I simply want to be absolutely clear about
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