Page 3034 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
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unavailable 16 per cent of the time, and a replacement has been provided for only less than half of that time. At the last election Labor committed to providing another aerial appliance. They have slow-walked this process and are yet to fulfil this commitment. Let us hope that this budget finally makes it happen.
The Canberra Liberals welcome the initiatives of scoping for new fire and ambulance stations, an additional firefighting helicopter and looking into a new fire danger rating system. We look forward to seeing the outcomes of these initiatives and will keep a close eye on the government to ensure that they are working to deliver this in full and on time.
Finally, in corrections, the Alexander Maconochie Centre continues to cost ACT ratepayers more while the facility fails to live up to its mandate. We have seen multiple escapes, bashings, high levels of contraband, continual illicit drug abuse and, sadly, two deaths. We have even seen a prisoner mistakenly released, walking straight out the front door.
The minister for corrections has overseen this facility for seven years now. However, his mismanagement of and distracted attitude towards the operations of the AMC has led to record low levels of staff morale. The AMC is suffering from a toxic workplace culture, with 93 resignations in the past three years and still 31 current jobs open. In 2018-19, corrections staff clocked more than 26,000 hours of overtime, almost triple the additional hours worked in the 2016-17 financial year. In one cell block, the AU building, there were 111 rolling lock-ins over 92 days in 2018-19 due to understaffing. That means that inmates in the AU building experienced lock-ins for a quarter of the year. How is that human rights compliant? Ratepayers continue to pay the price for this government’s inability to manage the ACT’s only prison. Costs continue to go up, while outcomes are going down. What a debacle! Once in a while we have a chance to make a difference in someone’s life.
In the coroner’s report into one of the deaths we have seen in the facility he said that the inmate had complained repeatedly of a toothache then, months later, having seen no dentist and still waiting in pain, he died from an overdose. I do not know how this facility has been run so poorly that an inmate in severe pain has had to self-medicate in this way. What a shame!
This budget fails the men and women on our front-line, delivering justice and keeping the peace. It fails those in our custody, to whom we owe the obligation to do our best to make them better going out than when coming into our facility. Ultimately, it fails the ratepayers of Canberra who are left to foot the bill for each and every year of Labor-Greens mismanagement.
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services, Minister for Government Services and Procurement and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (4.08): I am most pleased to speak in support of the appropriation bills and the 2019-20 budget, building on and progressing key commitments for an effective justice system that will bring better outcomes for our community. This budget commits further funding for safe and effective criminal and
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