Page 4353 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 25 October 2017
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justice system. Relevant information might include whether the detainee has been in custody at Bimberi and whether they had separation issues affecting their ability to mix with other detainees.
Of course, the ACT government takes privacy very seriously. As I have said before, this is why work is being undertaken in conjunction with the Government Solicitor’s Office and the Office of the Australian Information Privacy Commissioner. I think this is a really tricky area of policy for government. It is something that I have identified in a number of portfolios that I have responsibility for. How do we deal with the tensions of information privacy and the various acts that cover it compared to the opportunities that arise from sharing that information? I think that goes to the heart of Mrs Kikkert’s motion today. That tension is there.
I feel that in some areas sometimes the legislation and sometimes just the practice mean that we do not share information as much as we should. I think that is a significant policy discussion. I think it is hard to have it just in a removed way. In some cases it does come down to individual matters. But I think there is scope to improve information sharing for the benefit of those whose information is held. This is something I am contemplating in the mental health portfolio. It is certainly something that is relevant in the corrections space and I think is relevant in the education area. It is an important conversation to be had.
The other area to talk about is data collection. ACT Corrective Services is implementing our new Corrective Services information management solution known as CORIS. It is anticipated that this will be operational by the end of 2018. This system, with enhanced protocols, will improve data capture and reporting. This is something that I am also very keen on because at the moment I know it is a source of frustration for members of the opposition when they seek information. I can assure you that it is a source of frustration for me as the minister and for our Corrective Services staff that much of the data and information about detainees, about incidents in the jail, patterns and various other things that we might want to report actually needs to be extracted manually.
This is an enormously time-consuming process and one that with a better data management system I think will enable us to make better-informed decisions and potentially identify issues that are not clear at the moment because of the manual recording of data. I think that is something that will assist with this process and consistent with the intent of the motion today.
Ultimately, of course, our aim should be to keep young people who have been involved with the juvenile justice system out of our criminal justice system. That is why the government has a focus on justice reinvestment programs and restorative justice options. That is why we are establishing a drug and alcohol court, for example, and associated support programs as part of that goal to reduce recidivism by 25 per cent by 2025.
I think this notion of justice reinvestment to spend money up-front to avoid people coming into the various justice systems is such an important principle. There are times when you look at potentially spending more on more police and similar things. But
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