❓ Question regarding the implementation of recommendations following the death of Mr. Ward in custody. The Minister outlines actions taken, including fleet replacement, policy updates, and technology adoption.
AnsweredQoN 20Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
DEATH IN CUSTODY — MR WARD — CORONER’S RECOMMENDATIONS
As a person formerly responsible for the transportation of prisoners in regional Western Australia, I, along with many Western Australians, was shocked at the tragic death and loss of Mr Ward in January 2008. Subsequent to that, a coronial inquest was held that made certain recommendations. Can the minister please advise the house what this government has been doing about those recommendations? Mr D.T. REDMAN
As a person formerly responsible for the transportation of prisoners in regional Western Australia, I, along with many Western Australians, was shocked at the tragic death and loss of Mr Ward in January 2008. Subsequent to that, a coronial inquest was held that made certain recommendations. Can the minister please advise the house what this government has been doing about those recommendations? Mr D.T. REDMAN
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Murray–Wellington and for his interest in this issue, particularly given his background in the police department. I recognise his knowledge and understanding of these issues. Yes, he is quite right; in January 2008 due to the very, very unfortunate death of Mr Ward, the responses triggered a range of inquiries and follow-up to that. One such follow-up was, of course, a coronial inquiry and a range of recommendations came from that. On top of that, he will be aware that on 19 January this year WorkSafe also laid some charges against both the Department for Corrective Services and G4S Australia Pty Ltd and a couple of export officers who were involved in the incident. Obviously, whilst that process is underway, I am not going to comment on that, but I will come back to the recommendations and highlight the Liberal–National government’s swift and comprehensive response. There were a range of recommendations and some of them fall under the Department of Corrective Services. I can say that all the coroner’s recommendations have now been implemented. One of the key recommendations was the replacement — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr D.T. REDMAN : The Leader of the Opposition has had a bit of a field placement change out here, and he has a couple of members out in silly mid-on now taking a very aggressive field approach. One of the challenges with all these members taking such an aggressive field approach is that sometimes we get a bit of run slippage! I am expecting to see it from that side, but I am sure that we will come back to the important issues that the Liberal–National government puts forward in response. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
Mr D.T. REDMAN replied: I thank the member for Murray–Wellington and for his interest in this issue, particularly given his background in the police department. I recognise his knowledge and understanding of these issues. Yes, he is quite right; in January 2008 due to the very, very unfortunate death of Mr Ward, the responses triggered a range of inquiries and follow-up to that. One such follow-up was, of course, a coronial inquiry and a range of recommendations came from that. On top of that, he will be aware that on 19 January this year WorkSafe also laid some charges against both the Department for Corrective Services and G4S Australia Pty Ltd and a couple of export officers who were involved in the incident. Obviously, whilst that process is underway, I am not going to comment on that, but I will come back to the recommendations and highlight the Liberal–National government’s swift and comprehensive response. There were a range of recommendations and some of them fall under the Department of Corrective Services. I can say that all the coroner’s recommendations have now been implemented. One of the key recommendations was the replacement — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr D.T. REDMAN : The Leader of the Opposition has had a bit of a field placement change out here, and he has a couple of members out in silly mid-on now taking a very aggressive field approach. One of the challenges with all these members taking such an aggressive field approach is that sometimes we get a bit of run slippage! I am expecting to see it from that side, but I am sure that we will come back to the important issues that the Liberal–National government puts forward in response. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
I thank the member for Murray–Wellington and for his interest in this issue, particularly given his background in the police department. I recognise his knowledge and understanding of these issues. Yes, he is quite right; in January 2008 due to the very, very unfortunate death of Mr Ward, the responses triggered a range of inquiries and follow-up to that. One such follow-up was, of course, a coronial inquiry and a range of recommendations came from that. On top of that, he will be aware that on 19 January this year WorkSafe also laid some charges against both the Department for Corrective Services and G4S Australia Pty Ltd and a couple of export officers who were involved in the incident. Obviously, whilst that process is underway, I am not going to comment on that, but I will come back to the recommendations and highlight the Liberal–National government’s swift and comprehensive response. There were a range of recommendations and some of them fall under the Department of Corrective Services. I can say that all the coroner’s recommendations have now been implemented. One of the key recommendations was the replacement — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr D.T. REDMAN : The Leader of the Opposition has had a bit of a field placement change out here, and he has a couple of members out in silly mid-on now taking a very aggressive field approach. One of the challenges with all these members taking such an aggressive field approach is that sometimes we get a bit of run slippage! I am expecting to see it from that side, but I am sure that we will come back to the important issues that the Liberal–National government puts forward in response. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr D.T. REDMAN : The Leader of the Opposition has had a bit of a field placement change out here, and he has a couple of members out in silly mid-on now taking a very aggressive field approach. One of the challenges with all these members taking such an aggressive field approach is that sometimes we get a bit of run slippage! I am expecting to see it from that side, but I am sure that we will come back to the important issues that the Liberal–National government puts forward in response. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr D.T. REDMAN : The Leader of the Opposition has had a bit of a field placement change out here, and he has a couple of members out in silly mid-on now taking a very aggressive field approach. One of the challenges with all these members taking such an aggressive field approach is that sometimes we get a bit of run slippage! I am expecting to see it from that side, but I am sure that we will come back to the important issues that the Liberal–National government puts forward in response. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
Mr D.T. REDMAN : The Leader of the Opposition has had a bit of a field placement change out here, and he has a couple of members out in silly mid-on now taking a very aggressive field approach. One of the challenges with all these members taking such an aggressive field approach is that sometimes we get a bit of run slippage! I am expecting to see it from that side, but I am sure that we will come back to the important issues that the Liberal–National government puts forward in response. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
Mr D.T. REDMAN replied: I thank the member for Murray–Wellington and for his interest in this issue, particularly given his background in the police department. I recognise his knowledge and understanding of these issues. Yes, he is quite right; in January 2008 due to the very, very unfortunate death of Mr Ward, the responses triggered a range of inquiries and follow-up to that. One such follow-up was, of course, a coronial inquiry and a range of recommendations came from that. On top of that, he will be aware that on 19 January this year WorkSafe also laid some charges against both the Department for Corrective Services and G4S Australia Pty Ltd and a couple of export officers who were involved in the incident. Obviously, whilst that process is underway, I am not going to comment on that, but I will come back to the recommendations and highlight the Liberal–National government’s swift and comprehensive response. There were a range of recommendations and some of them fall under the Department of Corrective Services. I can say that all the coroner’s recommendations have now been implemented. One of the key recommendations was the replacement — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr D.T. REDMAN : The Leader of the Opposition has had a bit of a field placement change out here, and he has a couple of members out in silly mid-on now taking a very aggressive field approach. One of the challenges with all these members taking such an aggressive field approach is that sometimes we get a bit of run slippage! I am expecting to see it from that side, but I am sure that we will come back to the important issues that the Liberal–National government puts forward in response. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
I thank the member for Murray–Wellington and for his interest in this issue, particularly given his background in the police department. I recognise his knowledge and understanding of these issues. Yes, he is quite right; in January 2008 due to the very, very unfortunate death of Mr Ward, the responses triggered a range of inquiries and follow-up to that. One such follow-up was, of course, a coronial inquiry and a range of recommendations came from that. On top of that, he will be aware that on 19 January this year WorkSafe also laid some charges against both the Department for Corrective Services and G4S Australia Pty Ltd and a couple of export officers who were involved in the incident. Obviously, whilst that process is underway, I am not going to comment on that, but I will come back to the recommendations and highlight the Liberal–National government’s swift and comprehensive response. There were a range of recommendations and some of them fall under the Department of Corrective Services. I can say that all the coroner’s recommendations have now been implemented. One of the key recommendations was the replacement — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr D.T. REDMAN : The Leader of the Opposition has had a bit of a field placement change out here, and he has a couple of members out in silly mid-on now taking a very aggressive field approach. One of the challenges with all these members taking such an aggressive field approach is that sometimes we get a bit of run slippage! I am expecting to see it from that side, but I am sure that we will come back to the important issues that the Liberal–National government puts forward in response. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr D.T. REDMAN : The Leader of the Opposition has had a bit of a field placement change out here, and he has a couple of members out in silly mid-on now taking a very aggressive field approach. One of the challenges with all these members taking such an aggressive field approach is that sometimes we get a bit of run slippage! I am expecting to see it from that side, but I am sure that we will come back to the important issues that the Liberal–National government puts forward in response. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr D.T. REDMAN : The Leader of the Opposition has had a bit of a field placement change out here, and he has a couple of members out in silly mid-on now taking a very aggressive field approach. One of the challenges with all these members taking such an aggressive field approach is that sometimes we get a bit of run slippage! I am expecting to see it from that side, but I am sure that we will come back to the important issues that the Liberal–National government puts forward in response. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
Mr D.T. REDMAN : The Leader of the Opposition has had a bit of a field placement change out here, and he has a couple of members out in silly mid-on now taking a very aggressive field approach. One of the challenges with all these members taking such an aggressive field approach is that sometimes we get a bit of run slippage! I am expecting to see it from that side, but I am sure that we will come back to the important issues that the Liberal–National government puts forward in response. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
The SPEAKER : Order! I am sure that people on my left would like to ask some more questions today. We are not making any progress with this particular question at this stage. Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
Mr D.T. REDMAN : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I come back to one of the key recommendations—namely, the replacement of the prison fleet. The replacement of the entire 40-vehicle prison fleet was completed in December at a cost of $17 million under the Liberal–National government. I took the time to look at those vehicles. They are certainly excellent, as is the training behind the process of prisoner transports. The vehicles are fitted with a remote temperature monitoring system, duress alarms, intercom systems and so on to ensure that those being transported are being transported in an appropriate fashion. During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
During the past 12 months, DCS has put in place a range of coach and aircraft movement arrangements to transport people in custody over big distances. A cost is attached to the use of aircraft, but we judge that the related cost-to-risk factor makes that a very smart way to do business over big distances in Western Australia. The department is also continuing to examine ways to reduce the need to transport prisoners. One such way is to introduce videoconferencing, so that prisoners some distance away from court are able to appear before the court using this technology. We are examining the ways that technology can be put in place to reduce the necessity to transfer prisoners. A range of other recommendations has been implemented, including putting in place a vehicle-replacement strategy, which is absolutely essential to ensure that the prison fleet is up to standard; updating the duty-of-care policies within the organisation; and providing better training, as I have already mentioned, for transport officers. What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
What happened to Mr Ward was felt deeply within government and certainly within the Department of Corrective Services. The commissioner has said that he will do everything in his power to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I fully support him in that effort.
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