❓ Premier Barnett responds to a question regarding the significance of the new Disability Justice Centre in Caversham, highlighting its role in transitioning intellectually disabled individuals from the prison system to the community. The response also includes a defense of the Minister for Mental Health and criticism of a dissenting MP.
AnsweredQoN 568Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
DISABILITY JUSTICE CENTRE — CAVERSHAM
568. Mr F.A. ALBAN to the
Premier:
The Premier recently attended the opening of the nation's
first disability justice centre in Caversham. Can he please explain to the
house the significance of this centre?
568. Mr F.A. ALBAN to the
Premier:
The Premier recently attended the opening of the nation's
first disability justice centre in Caversham. Can he please explain to the
house the significance of this centre?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
Indeed, I was pleased to attend the opening at Bennett Brook of what is this
state's and Australia's first disability justice centre. I
congratulate the Minister for Mental Health, Hon Helen Morton, for her perseverance and her sense of social
justice in putting this in place. I am also very appreciative of the supportive
words of the Chief Justice at the opening.
It is a fact of our system that a
proportion of the prison population may have committed and probably did commit
an offence but who, because of their intellectual disability, were not able to
face trial and therefore were never convicted of an offence. Indeed, a number
of these people have remained in the prison system longer than they would have
done if they had actually been tried and convicted of an offence—they
are just left languishing in our prison system. The facility built at Bennett
Brook is worth seeing by anyone who is interested in mental health and justice
issues. It is innovative in all sorts of ways. It is a prison environment, but
when a person goes inside they soon lose sight of those features. It has a
small number of dwellings—basically rooms with an ensuite. It can
accommodate just 10 people at any one time, but there will be a constant
flowthrough of people. For the people who go into that centre, it provides a
transition from a prison environment to the community, where they will
inevitably end up—as, indeed, convicted prisoners end up being returned
to the community in most cases. The centre allows for intensive programs and
deals only with people who are assessed to be no threat to the community.
Therefore, it is a transition through to the community.
I think a compassionate and just
policy has been put in place. It has been very carefully designed and very
carefully managed. I understand it has been a contentious issue in this
Parliament and I understand and acknowledge the right of local people to voice
their objections, but if people go to Bennett Brook and look at the centre,
they will see that it is not in the community but is adjacent to a suburban
area and set back into bushland. I am absolutely confident that after perhaps
two or three months of operation, the community will accept it. I have
absolutely no doubt. I congratulate the minister, who showed some courage in
handling both public and personal attacks over this issue. She will be
vindicated for that courage because of the quality of that facility and the way
that it will allow some of the most vulnerable people in our community, who
have not been convicted, to transition out of the prison environment and to
return to the community.
Mr D.J. Kelly interjected.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
The member for Bassendean has been vitriolic in his personal attacks on the
minister and totally insensitive of the needs of these vulnerable members of
our community, and you know what? He did not even show up for the opening!
Mr
D.J. Kelly : Premier, I was with my daughter at Princess Margaret Hospital,
so you should take that back!
The
SPEAKER : Member for Bassendean, that is enough.
Mr
D.J. Kelly interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Bassendean, I call you to order for the first time.
Mr
D.J. Kelly interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Bassendean, you have made your point.
Indeed, I was pleased to attend the opening at Bennett Brook of what is this
state's and Australia's first disability justice centre. I
congratulate the Minister for Mental Health, Hon Helen Morton, for her perseverance and her sense of social
justice in putting this in place. I am also very appreciative of the supportive
words of the Chief Justice at the opening.
It is a fact of our system that a
proportion of the prison population may have committed and probably did commit
an offence but who, because of their intellectual disability, were not able to
face trial and therefore were never convicted of an offence. Indeed, a number
of these people have remained in the prison system longer than they would have
done if they had actually been tried and convicted of an offence—they
are just left languishing in our prison system. The facility built at Bennett
Brook is worth seeing by anyone who is interested in mental health and justice
issues. It is innovative in all sorts of ways. It is a prison environment, but
when a person goes inside they soon lose sight of those features. It has a
small number of dwellings—basically rooms with an ensuite. It can
accommodate just 10 people at any one time, but there will be a constant
flowthrough of people. For the people who go into that centre, it provides a
transition from a prison environment to the community, where they will
inevitably end up—as, indeed, convicted prisoners end up being returned
to the community in most cases. The centre allows for intensive programs and
deals only with people who are assessed to be no threat to the community.
Therefore, it is a transition through to the community.
I think a compassionate and just
policy has been put in place. It has been very carefully designed and very
carefully managed. I understand it has been a contentious issue in this
Parliament and I understand and acknowledge the right of local people to voice
their objections, but if people go to Bennett Brook and look at the centre,
they will see that it is not in the community but is adjacent to a suburban
area and set back into bushland. I am absolutely confident that after perhaps
two or three months of operation, the community will accept it. I have
absolutely no doubt. I congratulate the minister, who showed some courage in
handling both public and personal attacks over this issue. She will be
vindicated for that courage because of the quality of that facility and the way
that it will allow some of the most vulnerable people in our community, who
have not been convicted, to transition out of the prison environment and to
return to the community.
Mr D.J. Kelly interjected.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
The member for Bassendean has been vitriolic in his personal attacks on the
minister and totally insensitive of the needs of these vulnerable members of
our community, and you know what? He did not even show up for the opening!
Mr
D.J. Kelly : Premier, I was with my daughter at Princess Margaret Hospital,
so you should take that back!
The
SPEAKER : Member for Bassendean, that is enough.
Mr
D.J. Kelly interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Bassendean, I call you to order for the first time.
Mr
D.J. Kelly interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Bassendean, you have made your point.
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