Elise Archer,Attorney-General and Minister for Corrections
The safety and security, health and wellbeing of Tasmania Prison Service (TPS) staff, inmates and visitors continues to be a high priority for the Tasmanian Liberal Government.
Let's not forget that Labor's record when it comes to corrections is atrocious.
They left the prison system in tatters. Labor under-funded and under-staffed the TPS and they failed to promise one additional correctional officer at the last election, failed to adequately invest in prison infrastructure, and were responsible for shutting down the Hayes Prison Facility. Labor and the Greens also opposed our Governments' Mandatory Sentencing Bill, which delivers guaranteed jail time for those who seriously assault our frontline workers, including Correctional Officers.
In an act of staggering hypocrisy, the Labor spokesperson Ella Haddad today questioned the Government's position on remissions after Ms Haddad and Labor leader Rebecca White voted against this important reform in the House of Assembly.*
Unlike Labor, we are addressing the issues facing Tasmania's corrections system and finding long term solutions to fix the mess left by Labor. Since coming to Government we have continued to strengthen correctional resources, and by the end of the year we will have recruited an additional 200 correctional officers since May 2016.
And if that wasn't hypocritical enough, Labor yesterday opposed our motion supporting the Northern Regional Prison, which will not only improve outcomes for staff, prisoners and their families, but also create more than 1000 jobs and inject around $500 million into the northern regional economy, at a time when Tasmanians need it most.
We make no apology for being tough on crime, and we are doing everything we can to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all our hardworking TPS staff, inmates and visitors to the State's correctional facilities, while providing vital opportunities for inmate rehabilitation and reintegration.
Labor is consistently inconsistent and that is one thing the Tasmanian community is guaranteed.
*During the debate on 18 September 2018, Ms White stated "we believe remission is an important tool that should continue to be made available to custodial officers, so they can manage the behaviour of the prison population."
