❓ Opposition questions the Minister for Corrective Services regarding conflicting statements about the impact of GPS tracking on the release of dangerous sex offenders, demanding an apology for allegedly misleading the public. The Minister defends his position by quoting the Director General of the Department of the Attorney General.
AnsweredQoN 40Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
DANGEROUS SEX OFFENDERS — TRACKING DEVICES
40. Mr P. PAPALIA to the Minister for Corrective Services:
On behalf of the member for
Bassendean, I acknowledge members of the Morley Action Group, who are in the
gallery today.
I refer to the minister's
statement in this place on 17 September last year when he said —
The bottom line is that not a single
dangerous sex offender has been released because we have brought in GPS
tracking.
(1) How does the
minister reconcile this claim with the Director of Public Prosecutions'
statement that his government's amendments to provide for mandatory GPS
monitoring of dangerous sex offenders have ''resulted in a greater
number of offenders being released''?
(2) Will the
minister now apologise for misleading the house and the people of Western
Australia over this matter?
40. Mr P. PAPALIA to the Minister for Corrective Services:
On behalf of the member for
Bassendean, I acknowledge members of the Morley Action Group, who are in the
gallery today.
I refer to the minister's
statement in this place on 17 September last year when he said —
The bottom line is that not a single
dangerous sex offender has been released because we have brought in GPS
tracking.
(1) How does the
minister reconcile this claim with the Director of Public Prosecutions'
statement that his government's amendments to provide for mandatory GPS
monitoring of dangerous sex offenders have ''resulted in a greater
number of offenders being released''?
(2) Will the
minister now apologise for misleading the house and the people of Western
Australia over this matter?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) How
do I resolve that claim? I resolve it by quoting exactly what the director
general of the Department of the Attorney General said yesterday. He said that
it is not possible to provide a statistical analysis that supports any
interference and that the statistics by themselves cannot show a link between
the introduction of GPS monitoring and conditional release from prison.
Mr M. McGowan : So
the DPP was wrong.
Mr
J.M. FRANCIS : That is what the director general said yesterday. The member
can take it up with the Attorney General and the Director of Public
Prosecutions but I am quoting what he said yesterday. The reality is that since
2006, when the Labor Party in government brought in the dangerous sex offender
legislation, it has allowed dangerous sex offenders to be held—I
promise that I will not defend them—after their sentence expired. The
only class of offenders we hold for a crime they might commit but have not yet
are those people who have completed their sentence but are still being held in
custody because they are a danger to the community. Interestingly, we do not do
it with other classes of offenders, such as murderers or those who commit
violent assaults, but we do it with sex offenders and that is another issue.
The reality is that prior to this government bringing in GPS tracking, those
sex offenders would have been released under Labor anyway. What we are doing is
providing another additional level of protection in the community. The reality
is that if the shadow Minister for Corrective Services actually cared about
this, he might have done what I did over a year ago, which was to have a
conversation with the Chief Justice. I had a conversation with the Chief
Justice about this very issue. He knew exactly —
Mr M. McGowan interjected.
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
The Director of Public Prosecutions made a different comment yesterday.
The Chief Justice knew exactly what
the government's intention was with GPS tracking. Not a single
dangerous sex offender has been released to a red or a green or to a go or a
no-go because of GPS tracking—not a single one. If the member for
Warnbro has a problem with this issue, I suggest he do what I did. He should
get off his backside and go and have a conversation with the Chief Justice
about this very issue.
do I resolve that claim? I resolve it by quoting exactly what the director
general of the Department of the Attorney General said yesterday. He said that
it is not possible to provide a statistical analysis that supports any
interference and that the statistics by themselves cannot show a link between
the introduction of GPS monitoring and conditional release from prison.
Mr M. McGowan : So
the DPP was wrong.
Mr
J.M. FRANCIS : That is what the director general said yesterday. The member
can take it up with the Attorney General and the Director of Public
Prosecutions but I am quoting what he said yesterday. The reality is that since
2006, when the Labor Party in government brought in the dangerous sex offender
legislation, it has allowed dangerous sex offenders to be held—I
promise that I will not defend them—after their sentence expired. The
only class of offenders we hold for a crime they might commit but have not yet
are those people who have completed their sentence but are still being held in
custody because they are a danger to the community. Interestingly, we do not do
it with other classes of offenders, such as murderers or those who commit
violent assaults, but we do it with sex offenders and that is another issue.
The reality is that prior to this government bringing in GPS tracking, those
sex offenders would have been released under Labor anyway. What we are doing is
providing another additional level of protection in the community. The reality
is that if the shadow Minister for Corrective Services actually cared about
this, he might have done what I did over a year ago, which was to have a
conversation with the Chief Justice. I had a conversation with the Chief
Justice about this very issue. He knew exactly —
Mr M. McGowan interjected.
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
The Director of Public Prosecutions made a different comment yesterday.
The Chief Justice knew exactly what
the government's intention was with GPS tracking. Not a single
dangerous sex offender has been released to a red or a green or to a go or a
no-go because of GPS tracking—not a single one. If the member for
Warnbro has a problem with this issue, I suggest he do what I did. He should
get off his backside and go and have a conversation with the Chief Justice
about this very issue.
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