2017-08-08
tMs PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) — The Greens will support the motion put forward by Mr O'Donohue. Of course the events being referred to as the Brighton siege in the electorate of Southern Metropolitan Region were very concerning and, I think, are of ongoing concern to the community as to what was behind the events that day and of course the terrible loss of life, injury and trauma suffered by people who were caught up in it. The motion calls for a copy of the report from the Office of Correctional Services Review to be released. I support that not only for the reason I have just mentioned, that being the public interest in the issue and also the public interest — as in, rather than the report just being in the public interest, it is also of interest to the public — but also in terms of the practice of the Office of Correctional Services Review not releasing its reports publicly.
Members who have been here for a long time would recall that I have actually moved in this Parliament that there be established an independent office for the oversight of prisons, which is what the Office of Correctional Services Review does in some conjunction with the Ombudsman, particularly with relation to youth justice. Other jurisdictions have an independent office for the oversight of prisons that is separate from the department of justice or indeed the department of corrections, which is part of the department of justice, so that the oversight of the prison system by an independent office can be seen as separate from the government of the day and truly independent.
For example, in other jurisdictions such offices do have a rolling calendar of reviews of the prison and correctional facilities, and they can also do unannounced visits if they have reason to believe that should be done or if they just feel that doing so is warranted. The reports of those independent authorities are actually public, so that just takes me back to one of the other reasons for supporting this motion, which is that reports by the Office of Correctional Services Review should be public.
Motion agreed to.