Thursday, 16 November 2023

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:28): (364) My question is to the Minister for Corrections. The Western Plains correctional facility, built at a great cost of $900 million, has no operational funding and houses no prisoners, and your department has stated in the past that it is never likely to. Minister, isn’t it a fact that the air conditioning remains on in these empty cells, costing Victorian taxpayers over $300,000 per month, and if so, why is this the case?

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: Did you hear that question, Minister? There was a bit of noise coming from all sides. Mr Mulholland, could you repeat the question.

Evan MULHOLLAND: My question is to the Minister for Corrections. The Western Plains correctional facility, built at a great cost of $900 million, has no operational funding and houses no prisoners, and your department has stated in the past that it is never likely to. Minister, isn’t it a fact that the air conditioning remains on in these empty cells, costing Victorian taxpayers over $300,000 per month, and if so, why is this the case?

 Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:29): I thank Mr Mulholland for his question and his interest in our correctional facilities in our state, in this instance the Western Plains facility. I have been up-front. We make no apologies for investing in our corrections facilities in our state. This is infrastructure that is needed to futureproof our system, because obviously with the corrections system we need to understand that the number of people in custodial settings could go up or go down. Right now, due to the hard work of a whole-of-government approach, we have seen a reduction in those in our custodial settings. That is a good outcome. We are taking the time and planning for the future of our corrections system, and we will take the planning and operations of that facility very seriously before opening it. In the meantime, in the budget papers there is an allocation of an amount of money towards maintaining the facility and securing that investment into the future. It will be used in the future, and it is an important part of our future.

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:30): Minister, while the Western Plains correctional facility sits empty and taxpayers continue to foot the bill, has it been used for any other purposes in the past three months?

 Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:31): I thank Mr Mulholland for his supplementary question. As I stated, Western Plains is an important part of futureproofing our corrections system for whatever the future holds. In relation to its use, it has been used as a training facility for onboarding new corrections staff. We are still hiring, and if there is anyone watching, a career in corrections is very rewarding; you can make a real difference to people’s lives. It is important to have that facility, because it means that our operations at other facilities are not interrupted while that important training is undertaken.