❓ Dr. Jacobs asks about community benefits and recruitment progress for the Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison development. The Minister outlines the project's progress, job creation, local recruitment efforts, and benefits for Indigenous prisoners.
AnsweredQoN 730Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
EASTERN GOLDFIELDS REGIONAL PRISON
730. Dr G.G. JACOBS to the Minister for
Corrective Services:
Can the minister please outline to
the house what he is doing to ensure that the local community benefits from the
Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison development, which is in my electorate, and
how recruitment is progressing for the prison?
730. Dr G.G. JACOBS to the Minister for
Corrective Services:
Can the minister please outline to
the house what he is doing to ensure that the local community benefits from the
Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison development, which is in my electorate, and
how recruitment is progressing for the prison?
AnswerView source ↗
I will start by saying that I read
an opinion piece in The Sunday Times about a week and a half ago by Tom Percy, QC, in which he reflected on his
recent visits to the Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison. He wrote about how it
is a dark and depressing kind of place. Of course, prisons are not exactly
places that people want to visit. He was absolutely right in his comments, but
he failed to point out that people cannot go to the Eastern Goldfields Regional
Prison without noticing the major works going on in developing the new Eastern Goldfields
Regional Prison at the same location. I think it is timely that we reflect on
how that is going. It is going swimmingly well for a prison construction. It is
on time and on budget. This new prison will provide an additional 250 beds for
both male and female prisoners in the eastern goldfields near Kalgoorlie. It is
expected that the new development will employ an extra 150 personnel in the
Department of Corrective Services, 100 of whom will be both prison officers and
vocational support officers.
It is important that the government
and the Department of Corrective Services try to recruit as many people as
possible from the towns in regional Western Australia that they come from to
where they will work. The current recruitment campaign for the Department of
Corrective Services, which is employing an unprecedented number of new prison
officers, is specifically targeted at potential prison officers in the
Kalgoorlie region. We want to create jobs in our facilities for the people in
that region. For the first time in history, unless someone knows better, we are
running a prison officer recruitment class—a school for prison officers—in
regional Western Australia. One class started a couple of weeks ago for over 20
people studying to become prison officers.
Mr
P.B. Watson : It's been done before.
Mr
J.M. FRANCIS : It has not been done for some time.
The
SPEAKER : Thank you for that bit of wisdom, member for Albany. Minister, can
you carry on.
Mr
J.M. FRANCIS : I did say that I might be corrected on this. I do not think
it has been done for some time. We are running courses for prison officers in
regional Western Australia. As I said, one is running right now for prison
officers in the regional prison in the eastern goldfields. We expect this
prison to create an extra 140 to 150 jobs for the people of that region. We are
trying to ensure that as many local businesses as possible are involved in the
construction, operation and supply of everything from toilet paper through to
personnel for that prison when it is up and running. We wholeheartedly support
the principle of local content and the Buy Local policy of the government and
the Premier. We are trying to ensure that as much as possible can be delivered
by the region to that prison.
As I said, this is a wonderful
development as far as prisons go. The really important point to be made—I
will close on this—is that it will provide a very sensitive and
realistic place for Indigenous Western Australians to spend their time. When
they unfortunately spend their time in custody, they can spend it in country,
which goes a long way towards their rehabilitation.
an opinion piece in The Sunday Times about a week and a half ago by Tom Percy, QC, in which he reflected on his
recent visits to the Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison. He wrote about how it
is a dark and depressing kind of place. Of course, prisons are not exactly
places that people want to visit. He was absolutely right in his comments, but
he failed to point out that people cannot go to the Eastern Goldfields Regional
Prison without noticing the major works going on in developing the new Eastern Goldfields
Regional Prison at the same location. I think it is timely that we reflect on
how that is going. It is going swimmingly well for a prison construction. It is
on time and on budget. This new prison will provide an additional 250 beds for
both male and female prisoners in the eastern goldfields near Kalgoorlie. It is
expected that the new development will employ an extra 150 personnel in the
Department of Corrective Services, 100 of whom will be both prison officers and
vocational support officers.
It is important that the government
and the Department of Corrective Services try to recruit as many people as
possible from the towns in regional Western Australia that they come from to
where they will work. The current recruitment campaign for the Department of
Corrective Services, which is employing an unprecedented number of new prison
officers, is specifically targeted at potential prison officers in the
Kalgoorlie region. We want to create jobs in our facilities for the people in
that region. For the first time in history, unless someone knows better, we are
running a prison officer recruitment class—a school for prison officers—in
regional Western Australia. One class started a couple of weeks ago for over 20
people studying to become prison officers.
Mr
P.B. Watson : It's been done before.
Mr
J.M. FRANCIS : It has not been done for some time.
The
SPEAKER : Thank you for that bit of wisdom, member for Albany. Minister, can
you carry on.
Mr
J.M. FRANCIS : I did say that I might be corrected on this. I do not think
it has been done for some time. We are running courses for prison officers in
regional Western Australia. As I said, one is running right now for prison
officers in the regional prison in the eastern goldfields. We expect this
prison to create an extra 140 to 150 jobs for the people of that region. We are
trying to ensure that as many local businesses as possible are involved in the
construction, operation and supply of everything from toilet paper through to
personnel for that prison when it is up and running. We wholeheartedly support
the principle of local content and the Buy Local policy of the government and
the Premier. We are trying to ensure that as much as possible can be delivered
by the region to that prison.
As I said, this is a wonderful
development as far as prisons go. The really important point to be made—I
will close on this—is that it will provide a very sensitive and
realistic place for Indigenous Western Australians to spend their time. When
they unfortunately spend their time in custody, they can spend it in country,
which goes a long way towards their rehabilitation.
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