Thursday, 29 August 2024

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Port Phillip Prison

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:00): (645) My question is to the Minister for Corrections. Minister, the 40-bed secure hospital facility at Port Phillip Prison was upgraded in 2020 at a cost of $20 million. The unit supported prisoners requiring dialysis, chemotherapy, rehab services and end-of-life care. There is a new ambulance bay and telehealth capabilities. Why was this upgrade undertaken given the prison will now be bulldozed?

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:00): I thank Ms Crozier for that question and her interest in our corrections system. As a government we make no apologies for investing in the infrastructure to make sure that the community is kept safe and those in custody get the care they need. In 2020 those services were needed, as upgrades were required to make sure the health and wellbeing of those in custody could be maintained to the standards we expect. They will continue to operate until the end of 2025, so I think that investment was definitely needed. On top of that we have built a brand new prison at Western Plains, which will have state-of-the-art facilities on site, including medical facilities, to serve the people there. I think that was a service that was needed in 2020. Port Phillip Prison will continue to operate until the end of 2025.

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:01): Minister, I thank you for your response. Minister, many of the services provided in this secure facility will now have to be provided within public hospitals. Given the government’s funding cuts to health, what is the expected cost to deliver these services, including the additional staff required for transfers and guard duty?

Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:02): I reject the premise of the question by Ms Crozier, in particular her remarks about the health system, but I think in my substantive I answered that we have a new state-of-the-art, modern facility at Western Plains that will have modern beds in place to cater for those in custody. We have made a number of improvements to the health system and provision of services in custodial settings in all our prisons in the last 12 months. In particular we have a new public health provider in our women’s system and we have a new private contract with GEO in our adult men’s system. We are seeing the benefits of those. The early reports I have from the department are that there has been a very high uptake of Aboriginal health checks, we have had increased services for communicable and infectious diseases and we have better engagement, and those are all positive changes that we have made to the health system. Of course there is always more that can be done, but in terms of the facilities we have, Western Plains has modern facilities.