❓ Mr. Nalder asks about community work undertaken by prisoners. The Minister responds by highlighting the benefits of such programs, citing examples like Karnet Prison Farm's contributions to food production, bushfire recovery, and war memorial restoration.
AnsweredQoN 37Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PRISONERS — COMMUNITY WORK
37. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Minister for Corrective Services:
Minister, I know that
the government has a keen interest in ensuring there is a wider practice of
getting prisoners to undertake community work outside of correctional facilities.
With this in mind, can the minister inform the house on some of the projects
that prisoners have undertaken while serving out their custodial services?
37. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Minister for Corrective Services:
Minister, I know that
the government has a keen interest in ensuring there is a wider practice of
getting prisoners to undertake community work outside of correctional facilities.
With this in mind, can the minister inform the house on some of the projects
that prisoners have undertaken while serving out their custodial services?
AnswerView source ↗
Thank you for that
question, member for Alfred Cove. Can I also congratulate the member on his
election as the member for Alfred Cove. I suspect there are a lot of members on
both sides of this house who are very happy to see him now as the member for
Alfred Cove.
I listened intently
last night to the member's inaugural speech in this house in which he
raised some very important issues. One of those issues made me reflect on my
inaugural speech in which I spoke about the greatest thing that we can do to
help the impoverished people of Western Australia, which is to give them a sense
of purpose. That was highlighted to me last Friday when I visited Karnet Prison
Farm, which is in the Minister for Local Government's electorate—it
was great to see the minister there—and also in the electorate of the
federal member for Canning, Don Randall; it was great to see him there. It was
Karnet Prison Farm's fiftieth anniversary. It was disappointing that
the shadow minister could not make it; he was invited. Had he made it, he may
have learnt something.
Mr P. Papalia : I have been there a few times, mate!
Mr J.M. FRANCIS : I am sure the member has!
The great thing that
is happening in that area, particularly in that prison, is that people who are
serving their time are being given that sense of purpose. They are working on
community-based orders to do very worthwhile projects all across Western
Australia. Not only does that facility have a brilliant record in providing
fresh food and produce to the entire prison system in Western Australia through
its agriculture and meat processing products, but it also does a lot of work
across the community.
Dr A.D. Buti interjected.
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
The member for Armadale would be fascinated with this, because they do this in
other areas. They go out during the day and repair and repaint important things
in society like fire hydrants. They replace signs. They do a lot of the repair
and clean-up work after bushfires and floods. In fact, they did a lot of work
in Carnarvon following the 2010 floods in the member for North West Central's
electorate. It is great to see prisoners get out and make a meaningful
contribution to society and, as I said, achieve some sense of purpose that will
help them get on the straight and narrow road when they get out. In particular,
I want to quickly touch on one of the areas that I was most impressed to see
them work on; that is, the restoration and maintenance of war memorials in
conjunction with the RSL, in various locations across Western Australia. The
member for Albany will know that they have done some work in Albany, but they
do work all across the state helping to repaint and tidy up RSL war memorials
in various locations. I think that is one of the greatest things that prisoners
can do, especially at this time of the year in the lead-up to Anzac Day next
Thursday.
I thank the member for the question. It is brilliant to see
prisoners get that little sense of purpose. I encourage the department to
continue to identify prisoners who can be given those community-based orders so
they can get out of prison and return to society.
question, member for Alfred Cove. Can I also congratulate the member on his
election as the member for Alfred Cove. I suspect there are a lot of members on
both sides of this house who are very happy to see him now as the member for
Alfred Cove.
I listened intently
last night to the member's inaugural speech in this house in which he
raised some very important issues. One of those issues made me reflect on my
inaugural speech in which I spoke about the greatest thing that we can do to
help the impoverished people of Western Australia, which is to give them a sense
of purpose. That was highlighted to me last Friday when I visited Karnet Prison
Farm, which is in the Minister for Local Government's electorate—it
was great to see the minister there—and also in the electorate of the
federal member for Canning, Don Randall; it was great to see him there. It was
Karnet Prison Farm's fiftieth anniversary. It was disappointing that
the shadow minister could not make it; he was invited. Had he made it, he may
have learnt something.
Mr P. Papalia : I have been there a few times, mate!
Mr J.M. FRANCIS : I am sure the member has!
The great thing that
is happening in that area, particularly in that prison, is that people who are
serving their time are being given that sense of purpose. They are working on
community-based orders to do very worthwhile projects all across Western
Australia. Not only does that facility have a brilliant record in providing
fresh food and produce to the entire prison system in Western Australia through
its agriculture and meat processing products, but it also does a lot of work
across the community.
Dr A.D. Buti interjected.
Mr J.M. FRANCIS :
The member for Armadale would be fascinated with this, because they do this in
other areas. They go out during the day and repair and repaint important things
in society like fire hydrants. They replace signs. They do a lot of the repair
and clean-up work after bushfires and floods. In fact, they did a lot of work
in Carnarvon following the 2010 floods in the member for North West Central's
electorate. It is great to see prisoners get out and make a meaningful
contribution to society and, as I said, achieve some sense of purpose that will
help them get on the straight and narrow road when they get out. In particular,
I want to quickly touch on one of the areas that I was most impressed to see
them work on; that is, the restoration and maintenance of war memorials in
conjunction with the RSL, in various locations across Western Australia. The
member for Albany will know that they have done some work in Albany, but they
do work all across the state helping to repaint and tidy up RSL war memorials
in various locations. I think that is one of the greatest things that prisoners
can do, especially at this time of the year in the lead-up to Anzac Day next
Thursday.
I thank the member for the question. It is brilliant to see
prisoners get that little sense of purpose. I encourage the department to
continue to identify prisoners who can be given those community-based orders so
they can get out of prison and return to society.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.