A WA parliamentary question probes the provenance of a document the Minister claimed originated from the Labor Party, regarding the use of double bunking in prisons. The Minister's answer avoids directly addressing the document's origin, instead citing annual reports to demonstrate Labor's support for double bunking.

AnsweredQoN 3624Legislative Assembly
Asked
25 February 2015
Portfolio
Corrective Services

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to tabled paper number 2616, that the Minister asserted was from the Labor Party, and I ask: (a) who gave the Minister this document; (b) given that tabled paper number 2616 has no logo, watermark or other insignia of the Labor Party, how did the Minister confirm the document's provenance; (c) is tabled paper number 2616 part of a longer document, and if so, how many pages are there in the complete document; and (d) if the Tabled Paper is part of a longer document, will the Minister table the complete document?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
25 March 2015
Responded by
Minister for Corrective Services
Response time
28 days
(a)- (d)
Annual Reports for 2006/07 and 2007/08 confirm that double bunking was being used to increase bed capacity:
"...various strategies have been implemented to accommodate the additional numbers, including double bunking of prisoners in cells."
page 43 2005/06 DCS Annual Report
"Double Bunking is also being need to increase bed capacity. As at 30 June 2007 616 multi- occupancy cells were in use across the State."
page 31 2006/07 DCS Annual Report.
"Finalise installation of 272 ligature free bunk beds at Acacia, Hakea and Casuarina prisons."
page 26 of 2007/08 DCS Annual Report.
This clearly shows that the introduction of bunk beds was supported under the Carpenter Labor Government.

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