❓ Opposition MP Kirkup questions the Minister for Corrective Services about staffing shortages in the intelligence unit and corruption issues. The Minister deflects blame, citing previous government failures and ongoing efforts to address recommendations from CCC and Auditor General reports, subject to budget constraints.
AnsweredQoN 870Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CORRECTIVE SERVICES —
CORRUPTION AND CRIME COMMISSION REPORT
870. Mr Z.R.F. KIRKUP to the Minister for Corrective
Services:
The SPEAKER : No wonder you
wanted him to hurry up!
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr Z.R.F. KIRKUP : I refer to
the minister's repeated refusals to answer my questions in May and
September regarding his failure to properly staff the unit that investigates
corruption in our state's prison system. Given the recent CCC report
into the minister's mismanagement of the portfolio, will the minister
now outline to the house why there is a woeful shortfall in the number of
investigators in the intelligence and investigations unit; when will these
positions be filled; and when will the minister start to take responsibility
and address the range of corruption issues plaguing his department?
CORRUPTION AND CRIME COMMISSION REPORT
870. Mr Z.R.F. KIRKUP to the Minister for Corrective
Services:
The SPEAKER : No wonder you
wanted him to hurry up!
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr Z.R.F. KIRKUP : I refer to
the minister's repeated refusals to answer my questions in May and
September regarding his failure to properly staff the unit that investigates
corruption in our state's prison system. Given the recent CCC report
into the minister's mismanagement of the portfolio, will the minister
now outline to the house why there is a woeful shortfall in the number of
investigators in the intelligence and investigations unit; when will these
positions be filled; and when will the minister start to take responsibility
and address the range of corruption issues plaguing his department?
AnswerView source ↗
I think you got it wrong, Mr Speaker,
about the member for Dawesville. Of course he does not want to be the Speaker;
he wants to be the Premier. He has said that over and over again. He has said
that endlessly.
I am glad the member for Dawesville
has raised the issue of the Corruption and Crime Commission report, which was
tabled just last week, because it is a very good and very important report.
Basically, what it does is summarise the structural and cultural problems that
have plagued the Department of Justice, Corrections, for many, many years. The
report makes that very, very clear. There have been structural and cultural
problems within the department that go back many, many years.
Mr P.A. Katsambanis : It's
someone else's fault! It's always someone else's fault!
The SPEAKER : Member for
Hillarys, I am just seeing how many you have got here.
Mr P.A. Katsambanis : Three.
The SPEAKER : Keep talking!
Mr F.M. LOGAN : If the member
for Hillarys would like to make that comment to the commissioner of the CCC, I am
sure he would appreciate that comment as well, because the commissioner has
looked back at previous reports of both the CCC and the Office of the Auditor
General and summarised the recommendations that have come out of them. He, too,
has looked back. That is what the report is about, member for Hillarys, if you
would like to have a look at it. Those comments are very, very enlightening.
For example, I take members to point 52, which is one of the points made by the
CCC. It states —
OAG observed no centralised and
strategic approach to the issue —
That being, member for Dawesville,
the drugs and alcohol strategy —
had occurred since 2014.
He went on to say that this —
had been enabled by 'poorly
executed search practices, limited intelligence communications and a shortage
of effective screening devices'.
Of course, as the CCC report said,
that allowed a steady flow of illicit drugs into WA prisons, and that happened
under the Barnett Liberal government. That is what happened. The member for
Dawesville can jump up and move a motion to suspend standing orders afterwards.
I am very pleased that he is going to do that because I have many quotes to
fire back at him.
I will refer to another point raised
by the CCC, of which there are many. Point 120 states —
Until recently, nine of the State's
17 prisons did not have access to DoJ's main intelligence system.
At about point 133 the CCC said that
this failure exposed the privately run Acacia Prison because until recently, it
did not have access to the department's system of intelligence despite
it having 19.79 per cent of outlawed motorcycle gang members as prisoners. This
goes on and on throughout the report. Member for Dawesville, the problem is
that the former Liberal government did not address any of the recommendations
that came from previous reports, whether they were CCC or Office of the Auditor
General reports. The 2016 report looked at 2014–15 and the 2017 Auditor
General report looked at 2016–17, and that is what I inherited. I inherited
all those recommendations because the former government did not bother to
address them. Going to the very point made by the member for Dawesville, the
recommendations made about Karnet Prison Farm in the May report are well
underway and we will be reporting on those soon. In terms of the report that
has just been tabled and its recommendations, they, too, are well underway and
will be addressed before the deadline, subject to finances.
Mr Z.R.F. Kirkup interjected.
Mr F.M.
LOGAN : It will. It will be subject to finances and what I can put
forward in the budget. Those matters will also be addressed before the CCC
looks at it again in May 2019, including not only the issue of intelligence but
also the investigations branches, and those positions are being filled as we
speak. The points raised by the member for Dawesville continue to be raised ad
infinitum and they are always the same even though I have addressed them over
and over again. This goes to his attitude in dealing with this shadow portfolio
and his behaviour as a member of Parliament. I know where the member for
Dawesville is going with this. This is all about him and it is all about his
ego and promoting himself as a future Premier.
The SPEAKER : Minister!
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Minister, you will get to the end.
Mr F.M. LOGAN : I refer to a PerthNow article about the
member for Dawesville from May 2017, which was written by Belle Taylor. It
reads —
� he has a politician's
punchiness in describing the upside of a devastating defeat.
I hope to have 20 years in this job
serving in Parliament, and there is no better way to come in as in Opposition
in a small party room �
There you go! He just chucked under
the bus all those people who stood as Liberal candidates and lost, for his own
ego and ambition.
about the member for Dawesville. Of course he does not want to be the Speaker;
he wants to be the Premier. He has said that over and over again. He has said
that endlessly.
I am glad the member for Dawesville
has raised the issue of the Corruption and Crime Commission report, which was
tabled just last week, because it is a very good and very important report.
Basically, what it does is summarise the structural and cultural problems that
have plagued the Department of Justice, Corrections, for many, many years. The
report makes that very, very clear. There have been structural and cultural
problems within the department that go back many, many years.
Mr P.A. Katsambanis : It's
someone else's fault! It's always someone else's fault!
The SPEAKER : Member for
Hillarys, I am just seeing how many you have got here.
Mr P.A. Katsambanis : Three.
The SPEAKER : Keep talking!
Mr F.M. LOGAN : If the member
for Hillarys would like to make that comment to the commissioner of the CCC, I am
sure he would appreciate that comment as well, because the commissioner has
looked back at previous reports of both the CCC and the Office of the Auditor
General and summarised the recommendations that have come out of them. He, too,
has looked back. That is what the report is about, member for Hillarys, if you
would like to have a look at it. Those comments are very, very enlightening.
For example, I take members to point 52, which is one of the points made by the
CCC. It states —
OAG observed no centralised and
strategic approach to the issue —
That being, member for Dawesville,
the drugs and alcohol strategy —
had occurred since 2014.
He went on to say that this —
had been enabled by 'poorly
executed search practices, limited intelligence communications and a shortage
of effective screening devices'.
Of course, as the CCC report said,
that allowed a steady flow of illicit drugs into WA prisons, and that happened
under the Barnett Liberal government. That is what happened. The member for
Dawesville can jump up and move a motion to suspend standing orders afterwards.
I am very pleased that he is going to do that because I have many quotes to
fire back at him.
I will refer to another point raised
by the CCC, of which there are many. Point 120 states —
Until recently, nine of the State's
17 prisons did not have access to DoJ's main intelligence system.
At about point 133 the CCC said that
this failure exposed the privately run Acacia Prison because until recently, it
did not have access to the department's system of intelligence despite
it having 19.79 per cent of outlawed motorcycle gang members as prisoners. This
goes on and on throughout the report. Member for Dawesville, the problem is
that the former Liberal government did not address any of the recommendations
that came from previous reports, whether they were CCC or Office of the Auditor
General reports. The 2016 report looked at 2014–15 and the 2017 Auditor
General report looked at 2016–17, and that is what I inherited. I inherited
all those recommendations because the former government did not bother to
address them. Going to the very point made by the member for Dawesville, the
recommendations made about Karnet Prison Farm in the May report are well
underway and we will be reporting on those soon. In terms of the report that
has just been tabled and its recommendations, they, too, are well underway and
will be addressed before the deadline, subject to finances.
Mr Z.R.F. Kirkup interjected.
Mr F.M.
LOGAN : It will. It will be subject to finances and what I can put
forward in the budget. Those matters will also be addressed before the CCC
looks at it again in May 2019, including not only the issue of intelligence but
also the investigations branches, and those positions are being filled as we
speak. The points raised by the member for Dawesville continue to be raised ad
infinitum and they are always the same even though I have addressed them over
and over again. This goes to his attitude in dealing with this shadow portfolio
and his behaviour as a member of Parliament. I know where the member for
Dawesville is going with this. This is all about him and it is all about his
ego and promoting himself as a future Premier.
The SPEAKER : Minister!
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Minister, you will get to the end.
Mr F.M. LOGAN : I refer to a PerthNow article about the
member for Dawesville from May 2017, which was written by Belle Taylor. It
reads —
� he has a politician's
punchiness in describing the upside of a devastating defeat.
I hope to have 20 years in this job
serving in Parliament, and there is no better way to come in as in Opposition
in a small party room �
There you go! He just chucked under
the bus all those people who stood as Liberal candidates and lost, for his own
ego and ambition.
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.