Mr POOLE - 1999-10-21
There have been claims by the opposition that the prison system is not coping with criminals. Are our prisons in fact bursting at the seams, and are there sufficient trained prison officers to deal with prisoner numbers?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, our prisons are currently running at about 75% of capacity and have been for many months, so they are definitely not bursting at the seams.
On the other matter, it gives me pleasure to inform the House that 28 prison officers in training graduated on 30 September in Alice Springs; course number 2899. It may not seem big bickies to the opposition but this is another small way in which this government builds jobs - jobs for Territorians. The unique thing about this graduation is that all but one of these prison officer graduates are Territorians. This is new for the Territory and it gives us a lot of confidence that we can retain these trained people.
The normal turnover of staff necessitated this course. There hasn’t been one since August 1998. I was down there to present them with certificates and they were as fine a body of prison officers as I have ever seen. They were turned out extremely well - a credit to their instructors. I pay tribute to Mike Roberts and his team. It bodes well for the Territory that we can recruit locally and we can train locally. All of the graduates will be posted to the Alice Springs Correctional Centre.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, our prisons are currently running at about 75% of capacity and have been for many months, so they are definitely not bursting at the seams.
On the other matter, it gives me pleasure to inform the House that 28 prison officers in training graduated on 30 September in Alice Springs; course number 2899. It may not seem big bickies to the opposition but this is another small way in which this government builds jobs - jobs for Territorians. The unique thing about this graduation is that all but one of these prison officer graduates are Territorians. This is new for the Territory and it gives us a lot of confidence that we can retain these trained people.
The normal turnover of staff necessitated this course. There hasn’t been one since August 1998. I was down there to present them with certificates and they were as fine a body of prison officers as I have ever seen. They were turned out extremely well - a credit to their instructors. I pay tribute to Mike Roberts and his team. It bodes well for the Territory that we can recruit locally and we can train locally. All of the graduates will be posted to the Alice Springs Correctional Centre.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016