Questions without notice and ministers statements
Corrections system
Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:00): (97) I have another question today for the Minister for Corrections. Minister, the paper from the Justice Reform Initiative released yesterday, State of Incarceration: Insights into Imprisonment in Victoria, notes that in 2022, last year:
… $1 billion of Victorian taxpayers’ money was spent on operating the state’s prisons –
which the initiative noted –
… is a 96% increase from what was spent in 2012–13 …
despite far fewer people occupying prison beds and a reduction in available programs. Are the details quoted by the Justice Reform Initiative right, and if not, how are they wrong?
Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:01): Thank you, Dr Bach. I thank him for his interest in relation to the criminal justice system and in particular our corrections system. We have already said as a government that our focus is on keeping Victorians safe and giving people the best opportunity to turn their lives around whilst they are in our custody and care. I visited Loddon Middleton on Monday; we are focused on giving them the best chance to rehabilitate through initiating programs that give them the skills and training needed upon their release to reintegrate into society as best as possible. That is through employment pathways, that is through housing options and it is through providing mental health and other health services, because we know that people in our care usually have more complex needs.
In terms of the question about our investment in our corrections system, I make no apologies about investing great amounts of money into our corrections and justice system, because that is what we do as a government. We do what matters. People want us to invest in better outcomes, and as you would know, the number of people incarcerated in our state has decreased over the last three years. I think that is as a result, that is the dividend, of our investments.
Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:02): I thank the minister very much for his fascinating answer. By way of supplementary, Minister, the report also noted a lack of culturally suitable services available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who comprise 12 per cent of the state’s adult prison population, which again has doubled in the last 10 years. What specific programs are available to that cohort in Victoria’s prison system?
Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:02): Thank you, Dr Bach. Victoria has the second-lowest rate of incarceration for Indigenous people. I will start off with that factual matter; I will dispose of that. In terms of providing support to our First Nations people, we have culturally appropriate spaces, we have specific health checks targeted to our Aboriginal population and we have an Aboriginal women’s healing unit. There are a number of programs as well that are in the adult system and in the youth justice system, and there are many more I could talk about. The premise is that we acknowledge that our First Nations people are disproportionately affected and represented in our criminal justice system. That is something that we are looking at as a government and we take very seriously. There are a number of reforms that have been proposed that will come to this chamber in due course. I want to thank our Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes for her work.