Wednesday, 6 March 2024

 Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:26): I rise as Minister for Corrections to update the house about the actions taken by our corrections staff in response to the bushfires in western Victoria last week. Based on advice from Emergency Management Victoria and the CFA, and of course due to the severe weather conditions and the risk presented by the fires across western Victoria, Corrections Victoria made the decision to evacuate all prisoners from the Langi Kal Kal Prison. The operational experts selected Western Plains as the best and safest option for the majority of the prisoners. This would not have been possible without the significant investment our government has made into building and maintaining this state-of-the-art facility.

As I have said previously in this chamber, Western Plains is already contributing to our corrections system as a high-quality training facility that ensures that we are able to onboard and upskill staff without impacting operations at other facilities across our state. It has also provided its value in an emergency situation. Corrections Victoria was able to quickly operationalise Western Plains to receive prisoners safely and ensure they were fed and had access to essential supplies. I was pleased to hear from Corrections Victoria of the gratitude expressed by the families of the prisoners for their loved ones being safely moved out of the danger zone. I want to take this opportunity to thank the commissioner, her team and all the frontline staff involved for the fantastic job they did last week. Decanting a prison and transferring that many prisoners is no small task, and they did it with the safety of the staff, prisoners and the whole community at the forefront of their considerations.

It is important also to acknowledge that many of our Corrections Victoria staff live in and around the fire zone. On their behalf and on my behalf I wish to acknowledge the incredibly brave work of all emergency services workers in our state and the volunteers who put their lives at risk in the line of duty to protect the community and our whole state. Thank you to them.