Page 4748 - Week 13 - Thursday, 28 November 2019
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hole in the perimeter fence. During annual reports hearings it was confirmed that the hole in the fence was made on a Sunday but not discovered by corrections officers until the next day. Why did it take so long to find the hole in the fence?
MR RATTENBURY: That exact question is one of the key questions being looked at in the current internal management review that is taking place into that incident. I am not in a position to speculate on the answer to Mrs Jones’s question at this time.
MRS JONES: Minister, is it correct that now, two weeks later, you still have no idea what happened that meant that that hole was not found in the fence for nearly 24 hours?
MR RATTENBURY: No, that is categorically not the case, and Mrs Jones’s editorialising does not help the situation. I have been given some information on what we believe happened but, in the interests of the process of some degree of natural justice and letting the process play out, I am going to let the internal management review be completed before sharing. If I was to try to answer today, I would simply be sharing the speculation that I have been given. I will let the internal management review complete its process.
MR HANSON: Minister, why did the CCTV coverage not pick up that somebody was on the premises, and how are you aware that the hole was made on the Sunday?
MR RATTENBURY: Again, the question of the coverage of the CCTV and whether it was appropriate is being looked at by the internal management review. The AMC has over 500 closed circuit television cameras across the site. Some of them are trained on the fence, and clearly one of the lessons to be explored from this incident is whether some of those cameras need to be repositioned or whether additional cameras are needed.
Mr Coe: A point of order on relevance, part of the question was how did the minister know that the hole was created on the Sunday. The minister has not been directly relevant to that part of the question.
MADAM SPEAKER: He made reference to a review to be completed to provide that, but maybe I am paraphrasing the minister. You have nothing else to add?
MR RATTENBURY: I have nothing to add, Madam Speaker.
Alexander Maconochie Centre—female detainees
MR MILLIGAN: My question is to the Minister for Corrections and Justice Health. I refer to the editorial in the Canberra Times of 27 November 2019 which states:
Heaven help you if you are a woman, particularly an indigenous woman, incarcerated at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
You won’t get to see much of the light of day, you won't get access to the same training or work opportunities as male prisoners and you are unlikely to receive the emotional and psychological support you may need on your journey towards rehabilitation.
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