Tuesday, 5 May 2026

 Brad BATTIN (Berwick) (12:17): My question is to the Minister for Corrections. The government has announced a review of Victoria’s sentencing laws, saying sentencing must reflect community expectations and that community safety comes first. Given tougher sentencing will inevitably place further pressure on Victoria’s already stretched prison system, will the minister commit to reopening Port Phillip and Dhurringile prisons?

 Paul HAMER (Box Hill – Minister for Local Government, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Corrections) (12:18): Can I start by thanking the member for his question and reiterating that our government’s priority is the safety of our community. All Victorians have a right to be safe and feel safe whether they are in their homes, on the street, in their workplace or in their communities. I want to say what an absolute honour and privilege it is that the Premier has appointed me as the Minister for Corrections alongside Minister for Youth Justice and Minister for Local Government.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members will come to order. The member for Brighton has a point of order, and he will be heard in silence.

James Newbury: Speaker, this is not a ministers statement. On relevance, I would ask the minister to actually deal with the question that was asked.

The SPEAKER: The minister has only been on his feet a short time. The minister to come back to the question.

Ben Carroll interjected.

Paul HAMER: I would be very happy to start again, Deputy Premier. But I will continue and reiterate how important a priority community safety is to our government, and that is why we introduced Australia’s toughest bail laws. It is why we introduced adult time for violent crime and the establishment of the violence reduction unit.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, this was a very serious and simple question. Without repeating it, it was a very straightforward question, and you have asked the minister to come to the question. The minister is defying your ruling.

Anthony Carbines: On the point of order, Speaker, the minister was being very relevant to the question asked, and you did not seek to bring him back to the question. He is being completely relevant to the question, and the hectoring from the member for Brighton should cease.

The SPEAKER: The question referred to community expectations and community safety. It also did ask an explicit question, and I ask the minister to come back to the question.

Paul HAMER: The reason that I started with that preamble is because it shows that our legislative reforms are working, because since we introduced this legislation bail refusals and revocations are now at record highs. Remand decisions are also up strongly, nearly 70 per cent, and that means that we are seeing that there are more –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, you asked the minister to come to the explicit question, which was whether or not Port Phillip Prison will reopen. It was a very simple question, and the minister should come to that question.

The SPEAKER: The member for Brighton will resume his seat and not repeat the question in his point of order. The minister still has 1 minute and 40 seconds to get to the answer.

Paul HAMER: As I was saying – it is a bit hard to concentrate with so many different points of order being raised – we have got more people on remand and more people in custody than we had this time last year, and we invested in the last budget, in the 2025–26 budget, over $700 million to stand up more beds in our adult corrections facilities and more beds in our youth justice facilities, including more correctional staff and more youth justice staff to accommodate this increase in demand.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, we are two-thirds of the way through the word salad and the minister is yet to mention Port Phillip Prison. That was the question.

The SPEAKER: Member for Brighton, you do not need to raise your voice for a point of order. I cannot tell the minister how to answer the question. I can direct the minister back to the question. The minister has concluded his answer.

 Brad BATTIN (Berwick) (12:24): Very simply, Minister, what was the cost to close Port Phillip Prison?

 Paul HAMER (Box Hill – Minister for Local Government, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Corrections) (12:24): I thank the member for his supplementary question. The former minister exercised the state’s right within the terms of the contract to close the prison, and it will not be my practice to go into details of commercial or legal arrangements.