Page 3039 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
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MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong—Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Minister for Corrections and Justice Health, Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety and Minister for Mental Health) (4.23): I am pleased to speak to this section of the budget in support of the expenditure under this sub-item of the overall expenditure.
This year’s budget for the portfolio areas for which I am responsible provides a significant boost in our attempts to build communities, not prisons; to make sure that through that expenditure, through the reforms that we are undertaking, we provide opportunities for people to break their cycle of offending here in the ACT and ensure that our community is as safe as possible. They are the objectives of the work that we are trying to do through this budget process and through the other policy reforms that we are undertaking.
Through this budget, we are investing a further $70.9 million in our building communities not prisons stream of work. That is on top of the commitment that was made in February of this year, during the midyear budget review, for an initial $14.6 million for new and expanded community programs. This package seeks to deliver our focus on bringing together strength-based supports and inclusive pathways that lead to better outcomes for people cycling in and out of prison. We believe this is a smarter, more cost-effective approach to our justice system that helps keep families together; as I said, reduces crime; and builds a safer and more secure Canberra for the whole community.
There are a number of elements to this expenditure that cut across my corrections and justice portfolio responsibilities. These include more supported housing for better justice outcomes. This is a recognition that many people involved in the criminal justice system also have issues of insecure housing. This can have a series of consequences. We believe that the investment we are making here, of $13 million over the next three years to better support the housing needs of women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people involved in the criminal justice system, can make a concrete difference. That is the focus of the expenditure in this year’s budget; it follows our announcement earlier this year that we would invest $6.8 million to establish a bail accommodation transition support service for male detainees. Safe and supportive housing is a significant concern for women. The justice housing service will provide accommodation options to help ensure that alleged offenders are not denied bail because they do not have an address to go to.
With a significant number of our women in custody spending short periods of time there, these sorts of initiatives clearly have the potential to make a difference and keep some people out of custody, which we think, particularly for female detainees, is a very important objective because of the impact that time in custody can have not just for them but for the whole family unit in a way that is different from that experienced by families of male detainees.
We want to also improve rehabilitation options for detainees at the AMC, which will include a purpose-built reintegration centre. I have been quizzed about this in question time, but we have been very clear. This year we commence planning and design for
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