Thursday, 30 May 2024

Corrections system

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:29): (555) My question is to the Minister for Corrections. During her appearance at PAEC last week the commissioner for corrections noted that it is too difficult to know if minimum staffing levels at Victoria’s adult correctional facilities are being met. As the responsible minister, how is it appropriate that the system you oversee cannot measure a key benchmark?

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 the commissioner’s comments at PAEC. What I will say is that every facility must be maintained in a safe way. That is an obligation that is not just what my expectation is, that is the law. As employers the department have an obligation to ensure all of their workplaces, not only in my portfolio but across portfolios, are as safe as possible, and as an employer that is an obligation that I am sure the department take very seriously and as minister I take very seriously. In my previous career I was a personal injury lawyer, and I saw firsthand the results that an unsafe workplace can have on not only the injured worker but their families, their loved ones and their communities. As a government that is why we introduced laws to provide greater protections for workers. The industrial manslaughter laws were the first in the nation, so we do not just talk about workplace safety, we take action.

In relation to our corrections system, we are in a unique position in Victoria at the moment, where we have 25 per cent less people in corrections than we did pre pandemic. That is a good position to be in, especially when I reflect on the position that other jurisdictions are in, where they have got capacity issues and they have a range of other issues. As a government, we will continue to invest in programs to provide not only better facilities but better training and the implementation of better technologies to make these facilities as safe as possible. I want to thank our hardworking corrections staff, because I know they do an amazing job in an inherently complex environment. We will continue to support them and not just try to score cheap political points.

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:31): I was going to make a point of order because the minister went nowhere near the question about minimum staffing levels and he or his commissioner not knowing the minimum staffing levels and the benchmark. But I ask as a supplementary: will you request that the department implement a suitable system to track staffing levels, and if not, why not?

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:31): I think in my substantive, Mr Mulholland, I did answer your question. It is my expectation that these facilities are kept as safe as possible, and that is not just my expectation, that is the law. That is the law in Victoria. In terms of staffing, at the moment, as I stated in my substantive, the number of people in our custodial settings is 25 per cent lower than what it was pre pandemic. We are employing at all our facilities, from what I have seen, a relatively good complement of staff. We are continuing to invest in technologies and facilities and better training to ensure that they are as safe as possible. This is an inherently challenging environment, and I do thank the frontline staff for the amazing work they do.

If you look at the ROGS data, one of the indicators of how prisons are performing in terms of staffing ratios, for example, is out-of-cell hours. Victoria continues to perform better than other jurisdictions in relation to out-of-cell hours. That is one indicator of how our staffing ratios are working, but there are many indicators, and my expectation is that these facilities are as safe as possible.