Committee B (Mckim) - Part 1
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UNCORRECTED PROOF ISSUE Monday 27 June 2011 Estimates Committee B (McKim) - Part 1 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ESTIMATES COMMITTEE B Monday 27 June 2011 MEMBERS Ivan Dean Craig Farrell Kerry Finch Mike Gaffney Vanessa Goodwin Tania Rattray (Chair) Adriana Taylor SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE Hon. Nick McKim MP , Minister for Education and Skills, Minister for Corrections and Consumer Protection, Minister for Sustainable Transport Department of Education Colin Pettit , (Secretary Jenny Gale, former Acting Secretary Liz Banks , Deputy Secretary, Early Years and School Malcolm Wells , Deputy Secretary, Post Year 10 Andrew Finch , Deputy Secretary, Corporate Services Mike Brough , General Manager, Skills Tasmania Malcolm White , CEO, Skills Institute Siobhan Gaskell , Director, LINC Tasmania Nick May , Manager, Finance and Resources Sue Kennedy , Manager, Portfolio Co-ordination Unit Department of Premier and Cabinet Monday 27 June 2011 - Part 1 1 Estimates B - McKim UNCORRECTED PROOF ISSUE Greg Johannes , Deputy Secretary, Policy Nick Evans , Director, Policy and Programs, Program Development Unit Wendy Spencer , Executive Director, Office of Climate Change Department of Justice Lisa Hutton , Secretary Michael Stevens , Deputy Secretary Robert Williams, Deputy Secretary Greg Partridge , Acting Director of Prisons Chris Jacoora , Department Liaison Officer Chris Batt , Director, Office of Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading Ministerial Staff Andrew Perry, Head of Office Babette Moate , Sustainable Transport adviser Debra Rees , Corrections and Consumer Protection adviser Terry McCarthy , Education and Skills adviser Sonja Bolonja , Education and Skills adviser The committee met at 9 a.m. DIVISION 7 (Department of Justice) CHAIR (Ms Rattray) - Good morning everyone and welcome, Minister. It is my intention that we begin with Corrections and Consumer Protection and around 11.30 a.m. we will deal with Sustainable Transport and from 3 p.m. onwards we will deal with Education and Skills. Minister, I have already signed the request that we extend our time beyond 5 p.m., which I think will be necessary. If we can start Education earlier we will do so. Mr McKIM - I am entirely in the hands of the committee, Madam Chair. Just to be clear, I point out that Consumer Protection and Sustainable Transport are supported by different agencies, so it would be helpful if they could be dealt with as discrete areas of inquiry by the committee. I am supported by Justice in Consumer Protection and by DIER in Sustainable Transport. CHAIR - The committee have undertaken that between 12.30 and 1 p.m. we will do Consumer Protection and between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Sustainable Transport. We believe there is no Alternative Energy - we couldn't find anything in the Budget on that. Mr McKIM - No, the portfolio was changed. CHAIR - Minister, I would ask you to provide an overview of the Corrections portfolio. Mr McKIM - Thank you Chair. Let me introduce Lisa Hutton, who is the Secretary of the Department of Justice and on my left is Robert Williams, who is Deputy Secretary of the Department and of Corrective Services, and Mr Michael Steven, who is the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Justice. Monday 27 June 2011 - Part 1 2 Estimates B - McKim UNCORRECTED PROOF ISSUE Obviously we have had a challenging but rewarding time in the Corrections portfolio over the last 12 months. Some of the difficult periods we have been through would be well-known to members. But I also want to stress that I think we have taken a significant step forward in this portfolio in the last 12 months and I now believe we have the tools we need to embark on a series of reforms in the portfolio that I believe will help us modernise Corrections in Tasmania and deliver far better outcomes, not just for people who come into direct contact with the Corrections system but also to the entire Tasmanian community because it is the community that benefits when Corrections is improved. Obviously, I have recently released the Palmer Report and I would expect that we would discuss that at some stage today, and I see the member for Pembroke is agreeing with me there. Obviously I would not have commissioned a report from someone of the stature of Mr Palmer if I hadn't believed there were issues that need to be addressed at the Risdon Prison Complex. And that has been confirmed in the report that he gave to me. That report, along with a review of occupational health and safety at the prison, which was done by Workplace Standards Tasmania and the strategic plan Breaking the Cycle, as well as the strategic plan on education in our prison system, we have the tools we need to move forward and bring about the changes in the prison system and Corrections more broadly. Members will be aware that funding has been provided in the Budget announced by the Treasurer recently around some aspects of the Palmer Report, particularly recommendation 1A, which is to appoint a skilled and competent person with a reputation for effective change management to drive the operational reforms outlined in the Palmer Report, and we have a process underway to identify the best person that we can find for that role. Also, we have brought forward funding to allow for the expenditure of $3.5 million in the upcoming financial year to take care of some of the urgent infrastructure needs at RPC. We have decided, after reviewing the Palmer Report and talking to other stakeholders having a look at where we are at the moment, that the urgent infrastructure requirements include increasing the size of the exercise yards in Derwent A and B and Mersey - they are maximum security units - constructing a gymnasium building, including three multipurpose rooms for programs like education and also construction of enhanced exercise and education facilities on the northern end of the Tamar Unit by a total of four separate areas that can be used concurrently. I would like the be quite clear that this funding is actually funding brought forward so it is not, as they say, new money. It has been brought forward from previously allocated expenditures in previous budgets so that we can address as soon as possible some of the infrastructure requirements at RPC. Effectively RPC has not been finished being built yet, and that has always been understood by the Government, and that is why there has always been - at least to date - money in the forward Estimates for further infrastructure works. But we really hope that by addressing the urgent infrastructure requirements that were identified by Mr Palmer, as well as some identified by the Ombudsman in his report into the Tamar Unit, we hope that we can make the prison a healthier place for everyone - the people who work there and the people who live there. I hope by doing that we can reduce tensions within the prison, create a healthier prison environment and assist in the implementation of the recommended cultural and operational reforms. Madam Chair, there are a number of really good things going on within the Corrections system. For example we have Justice literacy coordinators commencing very soon, employed by Monday 27 June 2011 - Part 1 3 Estimates B - McKim UNCORRECTED PROOF ISSUE one of my other departments - the Department of Education - through LINC Tasmania, but they will work within the Justice system. We now have a strategic plan around educational training, and as I have previously announced, this will result in 20 000 contact hours of vocational and educational training in our prison this current education year. This is a significant improvement on the number of contact hours delivered in previous years. We have the Pups in Prison program, which is well-known. We have Reading Together. We have Peer Literacy Choosers who operate in our prison, where inmates train to teach their fellow inmates to read and write, and we will continue to expand that program. We have the Peer Supporter Program, with the support of the Red Cross, and a number of very good third parties and NGOs that we work with to deliver programs in our prison system. In Community Corrections we will continue to deliver Sober Driver, which has proven to be a very popular program to have people referred to by our magistrates. In 2012 we will introduce a new program in Community Corrections, including sexual offender interventions tailored to individual offender needs. So there is a lot of good news. I expect the committee will focus on some of the difficulties that we have - and I understand that - but there is a lot of good that we are doing in our Corrections system and there are a lot of people doing really excellent work and working very hard to deliver for the community. CHAIR - Thank you, Minister, we appreciate that overview and I am sure that there will be some questions come out of that. In fairness to the honourable member for Pembroke, who has been given the lead on this, I invite her to begin the questioning. Dr GOODWIN - Minister, I will launch straight into the Palmer Report, which is very topical and very important. On page 9 of that report, Mr Palmer points out that many of the factors that have led to the problems of the prison have had quite a lengthy gestation period, and the warning signs should have been apparent for some time. Can you explain why these problems were allowed to fester to such an extent that Risdon Prison is now considered to be largely dysfunctional and also to be at risk of the occurrence of serious riot and disorder. These multiple problems have been identified and need to be urgently addressed. Mr McKIM - You would be aware that I have been minister for 15 months or so now, and obviously RPC has been in operation for a number of years.