❓ Question regarding the government's response to the coroner's recommendations into the death in custody of Mr Ward, specifically concerning work camps for remand prisoners. The Minister outlines ongoing changes to prisoner transport and addresses the Warburton work camp.
AnsweredQoN 528Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
DEATH IN CUSTODY — MR WARD — CORONER’S RECOMMENDATIONS
I refer to the report released on Friday by the State Coroner into the death of my constituent Mr Ward from Warburton in January last year. Can the minister give any indication of the government’s response to the coronial recommendations apart from those he has already outlined to the house and, in particular, the efforts to allow work camps to take remand prisoners? Mr C.C. PORTER
I refer to the report released on Friday by the State Coroner into the death of my constituent Mr Ward from Warburton in January last year. Can the minister give any indication of the government’s response to the coronial recommendations apart from those he has already outlined to the house and, in particular, the efforts to allow work camps to take remand prisoners? Mr C.C. PORTER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for his question. Obviously, it is an issue of great significance and three minutes in a brief ministerial statement is not quite enough time to cover the ground. I will provide some background so that the house is aware of the context of both this event and the nature of the reforms that this Parliament and my government will have to institute going forward. In this jurisdiction there are about 50 000 prisoner movements a year, and they cover about 1.4 million kilometres. Transporting prisoners is a massive business. There are certain ways that we might be able to reduce that as a percentage of the prisoner population. However, I will give the member an idea of some of the ongoing changes, some of which commenced under the previous government and some of which have been added to. First, there are now mandatory comfort breaks during any journey of over two hours’ duration. That will include physical checks on the prisoner’s welfare and safety during the journey. Remote temperature monitoring and audible distress alarms have now been installed in all vehicles. A new system of contract management is in place, which, in effect, requires the contractor to provide information on any single vehicle breakdown, problem or malfunction. Since that process has been put in place, there have been 70 000 vehicle movements, and 61 problems have been reported. I think they were reported in the paper. We must keep it in context—61 problems were reported out of 70 000 vehicle movements. Some of those problems were flat tyres, and on only 22 occasions was a replacement vehicle required. As I noted in my brief ministerial statement, a process is underway, which will be completed by 2010, for 40 new vehicles to be completed with design specifications based on the prototypes that have been investigated. That is a $3.079 million project. Some difficulties will be encountered while the vehicle fleet is completely replaced, and I will make some comment on that in a moment. I consider the issue raised by the member about prisoners being able to be taken, in effect, from remand to a work camp to be a very important one. One of the things that we are doing with the Warburton work camp is to ensure that it will be built with sufficient facilities so that prisoners can go straight from their court appearance to that facility. Prisoners are most vulnerable and unpredictable immediately after sentencing. It has been the view that work camps do not have sufficient physical facilities to take prisoners straight from court. That will represent a big change to the way that we are doing business in the system at the moment. It is also the case that the 150-bed prison in Derby and the 350-bed prison in Kalgoorlie will stop the need for Indigenous prisoners who have committed an offence in that region to be moved and transported to and incarcerated in Perth. One of the difficulties in this matter was that a justice of the peace who had not yet finished his training had been appointed. That practice has immediately ceased under this government. That will not occur in any circumstances. I will make some particular statements about the G4S Australia Pty Ltd contract. In anticipation of the coroner’s report, I received quite extensive legal advice about the relevant clauses in that contract that would allow for termination. There are such clauses, and they revolve around specified grounds that are established in the contract, as well as issues of public interest. They are not defined and, as far as I can see, they have not been legally tested. I will also receive further legal advice from my department and from the State Solicitor’s Office as to what the coroner’s findings might say with respect to the potential to terminate the contract given those clauses. The legal advice I have received to date is to the effect that the strength of the state’s position for termination was stronger closer to the event than it is now, two years later. It is also the case that that contract will be up for tender in two years’ time. It will be a completely different contract. In my view, in a contract of that type a $100 000 penalty for the death of a prisoner is inappropriate. With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
Mr C.C. PORTER replied: I thank the member for his question. Obviously, it is an issue of great significance and three minutes in a brief ministerial statement is not quite enough time to cover the ground. I will provide some background so that the house is aware of the context of both this event and the nature of the reforms that this Parliament and my government will have to institute going forward. In this jurisdiction there are about 50 000 prisoner movements a year, and they cover about 1.4 million kilometres. Transporting prisoners is a massive business. There are certain ways that we might be able to reduce that as a percentage of the prisoner population. However, I will give the member an idea of some of the ongoing changes, some of which commenced under the previous government and some of which have been added to. First, there are now mandatory comfort breaks during any journey of over two hours’ duration. That will include physical checks on the prisoner’s welfare and safety during the journey. Remote temperature monitoring and audible distress alarms have now been installed in all vehicles. A new system of contract management is in place, which, in effect, requires the contractor to provide information on any single vehicle breakdown, problem or malfunction. Since that process has been put in place, there have been 70 000 vehicle movements, and 61 problems have been reported. I think they were reported in the paper. We must keep it in context—61 problems were reported out of 70 000 vehicle movements. Some of those problems were flat tyres, and on only 22 occasions was a replacement vehicle required. As I noted in my brief ministerial statement, a process is underway, which will be completed by 2010, for 40 new vehicles to be completed with design specifications based on the prototypes that have been investigated. That is a $3.079 million project. Some difficulties will be encountered while the vehicle fleet is completely replaced, and I will make some comment on that in a moment. I consider the issue raised by the member about prisoners being able to be taken, in effect, from remand to a work camp to be a very important one. One of the things that we are doing with the Warburton work camp is to ensure that it will be built with sufficient facilities so that prisoners can go straight from their court appearance to that facility. Prisoners are most vulnerable and unpredictable immediately after sentencing. It has been the view that work camps do not have sufficient physical facilities to take prisoners straight from court. That will represent a big change to the way that we are doing business in the system at the moment. It is also the case that the 150-bed prison in Derby and the 350-bed prison in Kalgoorlie will stop the need for Indigenous prisoners who have committed an offence in that region to be moved and transported to and incarcerated in Perth. One of the difficulties in this matter was that a justice of the peace who had not yet finished his training had been appointed. That practice has immediately ceased under this government. That will not occur in any circumstances. I will make some particular statements about the G4S Australia Pty Ltd contract. In anticipation of the coroner’s report, I received quite extensive legal advice about the relevant clauses in that contract that would allow for termination. There are such clauses, and they revolve around specified grounds that are established in the contract, as well as issues of public interest. They are not defined and, as far as I can see, they have not been legally tested. I will also receive further legal advice from my department and from the State Solicitor’s Office as to what the coroner’s findings might say with respect to the potential to terminate the contract given those clauses. The legal advice I have received to date is to the effect that the strength of the state’s position for termination was stronger closer to the event than it is now, two years later. It is also the case that that contract will be up for tender in two years’ time. It will be a completely different contract. In my view, in a contract of that type a $100 000 penalty for the death of a prisoner is inappropriate. With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
I thank the member for his question. Obviously, it is an issue of great significance and three minutes in a brief ministerial statement is not quite enough time to cover the ground. I will provide some background so that the house is aware of the context of both this event and the nature of the reforms that this Parliament and my government will have to institute going forward. In this jurisdiction there are about 50 000 prisoner movements a year, and they cover about 1.4 million kilometres. Transporting prisoners is a massive business. There are certain ways that we might be able to reduce that as a percentage of the prisoner population. However, I will give the member an idea of some of the ongoing changes, some of which commenced under the previous government and some of which have been added to. First, there are now mandatory comfort breaks during any journey of over two hours’ duration. That will include physical checks on the prisoner’s welfare and safety during the journey. Remote temperature monitoring and audible distress alarms have now been installed in all vehicles. A new system of contract management is in place, which, in effect, requires the contractor to provide information on any single vehicle breakdown, problem or malfunction. Since that process has been put in place, there have been 70 000 vehicle movements, and 61 problems have been reported. I think they were reported in the paper. We must keep it in context—61 problems were reported out of 70 000 vehicle movements. Some of those problems were flat tyres, and on only 22 occasions was a replacement vehicle required. As I noted in my brief ministerial statement, a process is underway, which will be completed by 2010, for 40 new vehicles to be completed with design specifications based on the prototypes that have been investigated. That is a $3.079 million project. Some difficulties will be encountered while the vehicle fleet is completely replaced, and I will make some comment on that in a moment. I consider the issue raised by the member about prisoners being able to be taken, in effect, from remand to a work camp to be a very important one. One of the things that we are doing with the Warburton work camp is to ensure that it will be built with sufficient facilities so that prisoners can go straight from their court appearance to that facility. Prisoners are most vulnerable and unpredictable immediately after sentencing. It has been the view that work camps do not have sufficient physical facilities to take prisoners straight from court. That will represent a big change to the way that we are doing business in the system at the moment. It is also the case that the 150-bed prison in Derby and the 350-bed prison in Kalgoorlie will stop the need for Indigenous prisoners who have committed an offence in that region to be moved and transported to and incarcerated in Perth. One of the difficulties in this matter was that a justice of the peace who had not yet finished his training had been appointed. That practice has immediately ceased under this government. That will not occur in any circumstances. I will make some particular statements about the G4S Australia Pty Ltd contract. In anticipation of the coroner’s report, I received quite extensive legal advice about the relevant clauses in that contract that would allow for termination. There are such clauses, and they revolve around specified grounds that are established in the contract, as well as issues of public interest. They are not defined and, as far as I can see, they have not been legally tested. I will also receive further legal advice from my department and from the State Solicitor’s Office as to what the coroner’s findings might say with respect to the potential to terminate the contract given those clauses. The legal advice I have received to date is to the effect that the strength of the state’s position for termination was stronger closer to the event than it is now, two years later. It is also the case that that contract will be up for tender in two years’ time. It will be a completely different contract. In my view, in a contract of that type a $100 000 penalty for the death of a prisoner is inappropriate. With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
I will provide some background so that the house is aware of the context of both this event and the nature of the reforms that this Parliament and my government will have to institute going forward. In this jurisdiction there are about 50 000 prisoner movements a year, and they cover about 1.4 million kilometres. Transporting prisoners is a massive business. There are certain ways that we might be able to reduce that as a percentage of the prisoner population. However, I will give the member an idea of some of the ongoing changes, some of which commenced under the previous government and some of which have been added to. First, there are now mandatory comfort breaks during any journey of over two hours’ duration. That will include physical checks on the prisoner’s welfare and safety during the journey. Remote temperature monitoring and audible distress alarms have now been installed in all vehicles. A new system of contract management is in place, which, in effect, requires the contractor to provide information on any single vehicle breakdown, problem or malfunction. Since that process has been put in place, there have been 70 000 vehicle movements, and 61 problems have been reported. I think they were reported in the paper. We must keep it in context—61 problems were reported out of 70 000 vehicle movements. Some of those problems were flat tyres, and on only 22 occasions was a replacement vehicle required. As I noted in my brief ministerial statement, a process is underway, which will be completed by 2010, for 40 new vehicles to be completed with design specifications based on the prototypes that have been investigated. That is a $3.079 million project. Some difficulties will be encountered while the vehicle fleet is completely replaced, and I will make some comment on that in a moment. I consider the issue raised by the member about prisoners being able to be taken, in effect, from remand to a work camp to be a very important one. One of the things that we are doing with the Warburton work camp is to ensure that it will be built with sufficient facilities so that prisoners can go straight from their court appearance to that facility. Prisoners are most vulnerable and unpredictable immediately after sentencing. It has been the view that work camps do not have sufficient physical facilities to take prisoners straight from court. That will represent a big change to the way that we are doing business in the system at the moment. It is also the case that the 150-bed prison in Derby and the 350-bed prison in Kalgoorlie will stop the need for Indigenous prisoners who have committed an offence in that region to be moved and transported to and incarcerated in Perth. One of the difficulties in this matter was that a justice of the peace who had not yet finished his training had been appointed. That practice has immediately ceased under this government. That will not occur in any circumstances. I will make some particular statements about the G4S Australia Pty Ltd contract. In anticipation of the coroner’s report, I received quite extensive legal advice about the relevant clauses in that contract that would allow for termination. There are such clauses, and they revolve around specified grounds that are established in the contract, as well as issues of public interest. They are not defined and, as far as I can see, they have not been legally tested. I will also receive further legal advice from my department and from the State Solicitor’s Office as to what the coroner’s findings might say with respect to the potential to terminate the contract given those clauses. The legal advice I have received to date is to the effect that the strength of the state’s position for termination was stronger closer to the event than it is now, two years later. It is also the case that that contract will be up for tender in two years’ time. It will be a completely different contract. In my view, in a contract of that type a $100 000 penalty for the death of a prisoner is inappropriate. With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
I consider the issue raised by the member about prisoners being able to be taken, in effect, from remand to a work camp to be a very important one. One of the things that we are doing with the Warburton work camp is to ensure that it will be built with sufficient facilities so that prisoners can go straight from their court appearance to that facility. Prisoners are most vulnerable and unpredictable immediately after sentencing. It has been the view that work camps do not have sufficient physical facilities to take prisoners straight from court. That will represent a big change to the way that we are doing business in the system at the moment. It is also the case that the 150-bed prison in Derby and the 350-bed prison in Kalgoorlie will stop the need for Indigenous prisoners who have committed an offence in that region to be moved and transported to and incarcerated in Perth. One of the difficulties in this matter was that a justice of the peace who had not yet finished his training had been appointed. That practice has immediately ceased under this government. That will not occur in any circumstances. I will make some particular statements about the G4S Australia Pty Ltd contract. In anticipation of the coroner’s report, I received quite extensive legal advice about the relevant clauses in that contract that would allow for termination. There are such clauses, and they revolve around specified grounds that are established in the contract, as well as issues of public interest. They are not defined and, as far as I can see, they have not been legally tested. I will also receive further legal advice from my department and from the State Solicitor’s Office as to what the coroner’s findings might say with respect to the potential to terminate the contract given those clauses. The legal advice I have received to date is to the effect that the strength of the state’s position for termination was stronger closer to the event than it is now, two years later. It is also the case that that contract will be up for tender in two years’ time. It will be a completely different contract. In my view, in a contract of that type a $100 000 penalty for the death of a prisoner is inappropriate. With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
One of the difficulties in this matter was that a justice of the peace who had not yet finished his training had been appointed. That practice has immediately ceased under this government. That will not occur in any circumstances. I will make some particular statements about the G4S Australia Pty Ltd contract. In anticipation of the coroner’s report, I received quite extensive legal advice about the relevant clauses in that contract that would allow for termination. There are such clauses, and they revolve around specified grounds that are established in the contract, as well as issues of public interest. They are not defined and, as far as I can see, they have not been legally tested. I will also receive further legal advice from my department and from the State Solicitor’s Office as to what the coroner’s findings might say with respect to the potential to terminate the contract given those clauses. The legal advice I have received to date is to the effect that the strength of the state’s position for termination was stronger closer to the event than it is now, two years later. It is also the case that that contract will be up for tender in two years’ time. It will be a completely different contract. In my view, in a contract of that type a $100 000 penalty for the death of a prisoner is inappropriate. With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
I will make some particular statements about the G4S Australia Pty Ltd contract. In anticipation of the coroner’s report, I received quite extensive legal advice about the relevant clauses in that contract that would allow for termination. There are such clauses, and they revolve around specified grounds that are established in the contract, as well as issues of public interest. They are not defined and, as far as I can see, they have not been legally tested. I will also receive further legal advice from my department and from the State Solicitor’s Office as to what the coroner’s findings might say with respect to the potential to terminate the contract given those clauses. The legal advice I have received to date is to the effect that the strength of the state’s position for termination was stronger closer to the event than it is now, two years later. It is also the case that that contract will be up for tender in two years’ time. It will be a completely different contract. In my view, in a contract of that type a $100 000 penalty for the death of a prisoner is inappropriate. With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
Mr C.C. PORTER replied: I thank the member for his question. Obviously, it is an issue of great significance and three minutes in a brief ministerial statement is not quite enough time to cover the ground. I will provide some background so that the house is aware of the context of both this event and the nature of the reforms that this Parliament and my government will have to institute going forward. In this jurisdiction there are about 50 000 prisoner movements a year, and they cover about 1.4 million kilometres. Transporting prisoners is a massive business. There are certain ways that we might be able to reduce that as a percentage of the prisoner population. However, I will give the member an idea of some of the ongoing changes, some of which commenced under the previous government and some of which have been added to. First, there are now mandatory comfort breaks during any journey of over two hours’ duration. That will include physical checks on the prisoner’s welfare and safety during the journey. Remote temperature monitoring and audible distress alarms have now been installed in all vehicles. A new system of contract management is in place, which, in effect, requires the contractor to provide information on any single vehicle breakdown, problem or malfunction. Since that process has been put in place, there have been 70 000 vehicle movements, and 61 problems have been reported. I think they were reported in the paper. We must keep it in context—61 problems were reported out of 70 000 vehicle movements. Some of those problems were flat tyres, and on only 22 occasions was a replacement vehicle required. As I noted in my brief ministerial statement, a process is underway, which will be completed by 2010, for 40 new vehicles to be completed with design specifications based on the prototypes that have been investigated. That is a $3.079 million project. Some difficulties will be encountered while the vehicle fleet is completely replaced, and I will make some comment on that in a moment. I consider the issue raised by the member about prisoners being able to be taken, in effect, from remand to a work camp to be a very important one. One of the things that we are doing with the Warburton work camp is to ensure that it will be built with sufficient facilities so that prisoners can go straight from their court appearance to that facility. Prisoners are most vulnerable and unpredictable immediately after sentencing. It has been the view that work camps do not have sufficient physical facilities to take prisoners straight from court. That will represent a big change to the way that we are doing business in the system at the moment. It is also the case that the 150-bed prison in Derby and the 350-bed prison in Kalgoorlie will stop the need for Indigenous prisoners who have committed an offence in that region to be moved and transported to and incarcerated in Perth. One of the difficulties in this matter was that a justice of the peace who had not yet finished his training had been appointed. That practice has immediately ceased under this government. That will not occur in any circumstances. I will make some particular statements about the G4S Australia Pty Ltd contract. In anticipation of the coroner’s report, I received quite extensive legal advice about the relevant clauses in that contract that would allow for termination. There are such clauses, and they revolve around specified grounds that are established in the contract, as well as issues of public interest. They are not defined and, as far as I can see, they have not been legally tested. I will also receive further legal advice from my department and from the State Solicitor’s Office as to what the coroner’s findings might say with respect to the potential to terminate the contract given those clauses. The legal advice I have received to date is to the effect that the strength of the state’s position for termination was stronger closer to the event than it is now, two years later. It is also the case that that contract will be up for tender in two years’ time. It will be a completely different contract. In my view, in a contract of that type a $100 000 penalty for the death of a prisoner is inappropriate. With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
I thank the member for his question. Obviously, it is an issue of great significance and three minutes in a brief ministerial statement is not quite enough time to cover the ground. I will provide some background so that the house is aware of the context of both this event and the nature of the reforms that this Parliament and my government will have to institute going forward. In this jurisdiction there are about 50 000 prisoner movements a year, and they cover about 1.4 million kilometres. Transporting prisoners is a massive business. There are certain ways that we might be able to reduce that as a percentage of the prisoner population. However, I will give the member an idea of some of the ongoing changes, some of which commenced under the previous government and some of which have been added to. First, there are now mandatory comfort breaks during any journey of over two hours’ duration. That will include physical checks on the prisoner’s welfare and safety during the journey. Remote temperature monitoring and audible distress alarms have now been installed in all vehicles. A new system of contract management is in place, which, in effect, requires the contractor to provide information on any single vehicle breakdown, problem or malfunction. Since that process has been put in place, there have been 70 000 vehicle movements, and 61 problems have been reported. I think they were reported in the paper. We must keep it in context—61 problems were reported out of 70 000 vehicle movements. Some of those problems were flat tyres, and on only 22 occasions was a replacement vehicle required. As I noted in my brief ministerial statement, a process is underway, which will be completed by 2010, for 40 new vehicles to be completed with design specifications based on the prototypes that have been investigated. That is a $3.079 million project. Some difficulties will be encountered while the vehicle fleet is completely replaced, and I will make some comment on that in a moment. I consider the issue raised by the member about prisoners being able to be taken, in effect, from remand to a work camp to be a very important one. One of the things that we are doing with the Warburton work camp is to ensure that it will be built with sufficient facilities so that prisoners can go straight from their court appearance to that facility. Prisoners are most vulnerable and unpredictable immediately after sentencing. It has been the view that work camps do not have sufficient physical facilities to take prisoners straight from court. That will represent a big change to the way that we are doing business in the system at the moment. It is also the case that the 150-bed prison in Derby and the 350-bed prison in Kalgoorlie will stop the need for Indigenous prisoners who have committed an offence in that region to be moved and transported to and incarcerated in Perth. One of the difficulties in this matter was that a justice of the peace who had not yet finished his training had been appointed. That practice has immediately ceased under this government. That will not occur in any circumstances. I will make some particular statements about the G4S Australia Pty Ltd contract. In anticipation of the coroner’s report, I received quite extensive legal advice about the relevant clauses in that contract that would allow for termination. There are such clauses, and they revolve around specified grounds that are established in the contract, as well as issues of public interest. They are not defined and, as far as I can see, they have not been legally tested. I will also receive further legal advice from my department and from the State Solicitor’s Office as to what the coroner’s findings might say with respect to the potential to terminate the contract given those clauses. The legal advice I have received to date is to the effect that the strength of the state’s position for termination was stronger closer to the event than it is now, two years later. It is also the case that that contract will be up for tender in two years’ time. It will be a completely different contract. In my view, in a contract of that type a $100 000 penalty for the death of a prisoner is inappropriate. With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
I will provide some background so that the house is aware of the context of both this event and the nature of the reforms that this Parliament and my government will have to institute going forward. In this jurisdiction there are about 50 000 prisoner movements a year, and they cover about 1.4 million kilometres. Transporting prisoners is a massive business. There are certain ways that we might be able to reduce that as a percentage of the prisoner population. However, I will give the member an idea of some of the ongoing changes, some of which commenced under the previous government and some of which have been added to. First, there are now mandatory comfort breaks during any journey of over two hours’ duration. That will include physical checks on the prisoner’s welfare and safety during the journey. Remote temperature monitoring and audible distress alarms have now been installed in all vehicles. A new system of contract management is in place, which, in effect, requires the contractor to provide information on any single vehicle breakdown, problem or malfunction. Since that process has been put in place, there have been 70 000 vehicle movements, and 61 problems have been reported. I think they were reported in the paper. We must keep it in context—61 problems were reported out of 70 000 vehicle movements. Some of those problems were flat tyres, and on only 22 occasions was a replacement vehicle required. As I noted in my brief ministerial statement, a process is underway, which will be completed by 2010, for 40 new vehicles to be completed with design specifications based on the prototypes that have been investigated. That is a $3.079 million project. Some difficulties will be encountered while the vehicle fleet is completely replaced, and I will make some comment on that in a moment. I consider the issue raised by the member about prisoners being able to be taken, in effect, from remand to a work camp to be a very important one. One of the things that we are doing with the Warburton work camp is to ensure that it will be built with sufficient facilities so that prisoners can go straight from their court appearance to that facility. Prisoners are most vulnerable and unpredictable immediately after sentencing. It has been the view that work camps do not have sufficient physical facilities to take prisoners straight from court. That will represent a big change to the way that we are doing business in the system at the moment. It is also the case that the 150-bed prison in Derby and the 350-bed prison in Kalgoorlie will stop the need for Indigenous prisoners who have committed an offence in that region to be moved and transported to and incarcerated in Perth. One of the difficulties in this matter was that a justice of the peace who had not yet finished his training had been appointed. That practice has immediately ceased under this government. That will not occur in any circumstances. I will make some particular statements about the G4S Australia Pty Ltd contract. In anticipation of the coroner’s report, I received quite extensive legal advice about the relevant clauses in that contract that would allow for termination. There are such clauses, and they revolve around specified grounds that are established in the contract, as well as issues of public interest. They are not defined and, as far as I can see, they have not been legally tested. I will also receive further legal advice from my department and from the State Solicitor’s Office as to what the coroner’s findings might say with respect to the potential to terminate the contract given those clauses. The legal advice I have received to date is to the effect that the strength of the state’s position for termination was stronger closer to the event than it is now, two years later. It is also the case that that contract will be up for tender in two years’ time. It will be a completely different contract. In my view, in a contract of that type a $100 000 penalty for the death of a prisoner is inappropriate. With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
I consider the issue raised by the member about prisoners being able to be taken, in effect, from remand to a work camp to be a very important one. One of the things that we are doing with the Warburton work camp is to ensure that it will be built with sufficient facilities so that prisoners can go straight from their court appearance to that facility. Prisoners are most vulnerable and unpredictable immediately after sentencing. It has been the view that work camps do not have sufficient physical facilities to take prisoners straight from court. That will represent a big change to the way that we are doing business in the system at the moment. It is also the case that the 150-bed prison in Derby and the 350-bed prison in Kalgoorlie will stop the need for Indigenous prisoners who have committed an offence in that region to be moved and transported to and incarcerated in Perth. One of the difficulties in this matter was that a justice of the peace who had not yet finished his training had been appointed. That practice has immediately ceased under this government. That will not occur in any circumstances. I will make some particular statements about the G4S Australia Pty Ltd contract. In anticipation of the coroner’s report, I received quite extensive legal advice about the relevant clauses in that contract that would allow for termination. There are such clauses, and they revolve around specified grounds that are established in the contract, as well as issues of public interest. They are not defined and, as far as I can see, they have not been legally tested. I will also receive further legal advice from my department and from the State Solicitor’s Office as to what the coroner’s findings might say with respect to the potential to terminate the contract given those clauses. The legal advice I have received to date is to the effect that the strength of the state’s position for termination was stronger closer to the event than it is now, two years later. It is also the case that that contract will be up for tender in two years’ time. It will be a completely different contract. In my view, in a contract of that type a $100 000 penalty for the death of a prisoner is inappropriate. With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
One of the difficulties in this matter was that a justice of the peace who had not yet finished his training had been appointed. That practice has immediately ceased under this government. That will not occur in any circumstances. I will make some particular statements about the G4S Australia Pty Ltd contract. In anticipation of the coroner’s report, I received quite extensive legal advice about the relevant clauses in that contract that would allow for termination. There are such clauses, and they revolve around specified grounds that are established in the contract, as well as issues of public interest. They are not defined and, as far as I can see, they have not been legally tested. I will also receive further legal advice from my department and from the State Solicitor’s Office as to what the coroner’s findings might say with respect to the potential to terminate the contract given those clauses. The legal advice I have received to date is to the effect that the strength of the state’s position for termination was stronger closer to the event than it is now, two years later. It is also the case that that contract will be up for tender in two years’ time. It will be a completely different contract. In my view, in a contract of that type a $100 000 penalty for the death of a prisoner is inappropriate. With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
I will make some particular statements about the G4S Australia Pty Ltd contract. In anticipation of the coroner’s report, I received quite extensive legal advice about the relevant clauses in that contract that would allow for termination. There are such clauses, and they revolve around specified grounds that are established in the contract, as well as issues of public interest. They are not defined and, as far as I can see, they have not been legally tested. I will also receive further legal advice from my department and from the State Solicitor’s Office as to what the coroner’s findings might say with respect to the potential to terminate the contract given those clauses. The legal advice I have received to date is to the effect that the strength of the state’s position for termination was stronger closer to the event than it is now, two years later. It is also the case that that contract will be up for tender in two years’ time. It will be a completely different contract. In my view, in a contract of that type a $100 000 penalty for the death of a prisoner is inappropriate. With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
With respect to the two staff involved, under section 55 of the relevant act that covers the contract, the contractor is required to provide me with a report on the status of disciplinary proceedings against the two staff members. I am expecting that report to be given to me in a very short time, given the strength of the coroner’s findings. It is also the case that I have the power, under that contract, through direction to the head of my department, to withdraw the licences from the two employees. I will have absolutely no hesitation in activating that ability if the report that I receive is not sufficient in terms of disciplinary proceedings against those two employees. On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
On a number of occasions the member has raised with me personally the ex gratia issue. I note that there is a contract penalty provision of $100 000. I do not want that being confused with the process of ex gratia. No doubt we will receive an application for ex gratia. It will be proceeded with according to its merits which, I guess, will be strong. I do not want that ex gratia process being linked to the quantum of $100 000, because they will be ongoing. In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
In conclusion, the perennial difficulty we have is the percentage of Indigenous prisoners in the prison system. It is a very, very difficult problem, which I know the former minister did her best to deal with. But, over the period in which Labor was in government, the percentage of Aboriginal prisoners in the system, as a percentage of total population, increased from 34.35 per cent to 41.37 per cent. That is not a criticism of the former minister because I know that she did all she could to try to prevent that from happening. It may have been that she was in government at an unfortunate time when DNA databases were having their greatest practical effect on the prison population. In actual fact under this new government the Indigenous prison population has gone down slightly, but again that could be reversed by any specific measure to redress offending in remote communities. I simply say for the benefit of the house and the previous minister—who did her best in this area—that it is a problem that goes across one portfolio and decades. It is a very difficult problem but one that the government is seeking to address.
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