“With more than 10,000 people held in 57 gaols across the State at a yearly cost of $75,000 per prisoner, NSW is spending more than $1 billion annually on its prison system.
“BOCSAR’s analysis suggests that a 10% decrease in the number of NSW prisoners returning to gaol would result in savings of more than $28 million each year.
“A 10% reduction in the State’s prison population is not impossible if programs to prevent re-offending are adequately funded and resourced. The entire community would reap enormous benefits if prisoners had ready access to literacy, vocational and health services while in gaol, and drug treatment, jobs, and housing assistance when released.
“It is in nobody’s interests, other than private prison operators, to keep our prisons full. Almost all prisoners return to the community one day. Equipping prisoners for that return is a far more economically and socially rational approach than not providing services and simply hoping prisoners will not re-offend. The reality is that 64% of prisoners will do so.
“Each year, more people in NSW return to gaol than enter it for the first time.
“Building ever more gaols to lock up ever more people is not the answer. It’s time to redirect funding from building new prisons to programs that will keep people out of gaol or prevent their returning to gaol,” said Ms Hale.
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“Within weeks of the Government announcing its withdrawal from the ill-conceived Metro project at enormous cost to the taxpayer, it is rushing into a project which is bedevilled by a similar lack of consultation and transparency.
“The process of planning for Barangaroo has been out of control since the announcement of the winner of the international architecture competition in April 2006. Since then former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating has campaigned vociferously for a project that has departed from the design rules of the competition.
“It is only now becoming clear that the Lend Lease plan will result in a significant loss of public space, particularly along the harbour foreshore, and a massive increase in the height and density of buildings.
“It appears that only one street in the seven hectare proposal will be public, and that the rest of the area will be owned by Lend Lease. This is a dangerous loss of the public domain and undemocratic in its operation.
“The Government’s signing off on the project before even the extremely limited public consultation process has been completed and before detailed plans and drawings are available, sends a strong message that it is contemptuous of the community’s views.
“The plan announced last week by Lend Lease has little detail, and similarly there is no advice from Government on what will be in the contract.
“There is no clear plan for the area outside the land promised to Lend Lease, and no costing for the restoration of the ‘natural’ foreshore. Who will pay the cost of remediation of gas-contaminated land or for the demolition of the existing sea walls? Where is the affordable housing that the design competition required?
“We have already seen the Labor Government preside over projects whose costs have blown out and where the public good has been sacrificed to private interests. Barangaroo must not be another of those projects.
“Premier Keneally has said this is a vital project for the future of Sydney, and The Greens agree. But Barangaroo must not simply be a place to shop. It must be a more creative space that engages fully with what we as Sydneysiders want to do.
“To be truly different and to add vitality to our city, Barangaroo’s public spaces and recreation areas must be generous, as must provide public access to the harbour and its entire foreshore. The Lend Lease/Keating plan simply takes public land and turns it to private benefit, and that’s not good enough.
“It’s time that the Government subscribed to a principle underlying the Sydney Regional Environmental Plan (Sydney Harbour Catchment) 2005, that: The public good has precedence over the private good whenever and whatever change is proposed for Sydney Harbour or its foreshores’, concluded Ms Hale.
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“The Minister also brushed aside detailed questions I asked about the incident. http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/lc/qalc.nsf/18101dc36b638302ca257146007ee41a/3b989d854e1307b0ca25766a002b19eb?OpenDocument A full six months after Mr Holcroft’s death, the position of the Department and the new Minister is unchanged.
“It is simply not good enough to wait for the Coroner’s report when significant facts about the incident are already known.
“Corrective Services officers have told me that the Department has removed its prisoner transport policy from the staff intranet. So, rather than giving greater direction and support to officers engaged in this important responsible task, CS management appears to be taking an even more cavalier approach to the health and safety of prisoners.
“Minister Costa must step in and direct the Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham to urgently review all procedures relating to the transport of prisoners in NSW.
“If, as the former Minister Robertson asserted last year that ‘on any given day we have the equivalent of one full jail of inmates on the road’, it is imperative that the Government and the Department move urgently to ensure this appalling situation is not repeated.
“It is not good enough to hide behind a Coroner’s report that has yet to be written and do nothing. The Government and the Department are clearly doing nothing on this issue and playing on public perceptions that somehow prisoners deserve this.
“Mr Holcroft had done the wrong thing, but he was sentenced to seven months, not death.
“This shocking incident is only the most recent in a spate of entirely avoidable deaths of inmates in New South Wales’ prisons in recent years.
“Aboriginal woman Veronica Baxter died when in remand in the male section at Silverwater prison in March last year. Neither the Government nor the Department has indicated that any review of procedures has been undertaken to ensure that Departmental guidelines that should have protected Ms Baxter are reviewed. http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20090901054
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20090617024
“It’s time Corrective Services management and Commissioner Ron Woodham are held accountable for the welfare of prisoners under their control,” said Ms Hale.
Further information: Colin Hesse on 9230 3030 or 0401 719 124
The following questions by Sylvia Hale, Greens MP and spokesperson for Corrective Services were put to former Minister for Corrective Services Mr John Robertson last year.
Links are to the Parliamentary website and contain Mr Robertson’s answers.
Question without notice on the death of Mark Holcroft
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20091124028
Question without notice on prison transport
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20091029030
Questions on notice about the death of Mark Holcroft
Question without notice on the death in custody of Veronnica Baxter
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20090617024
Follow up question on the death of Veronnica Baxter
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20090901054
Sylvia Hale media release on death of Mark Holcroft from November 2010
Related issues
Cuts to prison transport service
http://sylviahale.org.au/news/budget-cuts-mean-prisoners-and
http://sylviahale.org.au/news/prison-officers-prisoners-and-community-lose-lose-lose
Cuts to prisoner services
http://sylviahale.org.au/news/if-you-can2019t-run-it-close-it-no-matter-the-cost
High rate of recidivism
http://sylviahale.org.au/news/government2019s-costly-failure-recidivism-nation2019s-highest
Riot at Long Bay
http://sylviahale.org.au/news/riot-a-sign-of-things-to-come
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“The Hacking River is the major river flowing through the iconic National Park which is greatly loved by the people of Sydney and the Illawarra.
“As far back as 1990 the National Parks and Wildlife Service declared that ‘the Upper Hacking River catchment contains valuable plant and animal communities which are not adequately conserved,’ and that, ‘ideally the Service would like to add all these lands to the Park system.’
“There will be real anger in the community at the Government’s approval of an LEP that allows greater development on lands previously recommended for the highest level of environmental protection,” said Ms Hale.
“Planning Minister Kelly’s media release mentions neither the Minister for the Illawarra and Member for Heathcote, Paul McLeay, nor the Member for Keira, David Campbell. In the past, both have indicated their support for protecting the sensitive lands that link the Royal National Park and the Illawarra escarpment. They’re aware of the deep community disquiet over a process which saw the original draft LEP changed after the public consultation process had closed from E2, high level environmental protection, to E3, a zoning that permits significant development.
“With this new State-Government-approved LEP the gate has opened to a major increase in development in the Helensburgh and Otford area.
“The decision is characteristic of a Government that is disdainful of and out of touch with local communities.
“Residents are not the only ones outraged. The following groups have all expressed their dismay at the LEP’s removal of protections for such a sensitive environment: Otford Protection Society, Stanwell Tops Residents Awareness Association, Helensburgh and District Historical Society, Helensburgh and District Landcare, Northern Illawarra Residents Action Group, Illawarra Escarpment Coalition, Illawarra Greens, Sutherland Greens, National Parks Association of NSW, Total Environment Centre, Colong Foundation for Wilderness, The Wilderness Society, Nature Conservation Council of NSW.
Further information: Colin Hesse on 9230 3030 or 0401 719 124
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“A resident contacted my office today in desperation.
“She and her neighbours have tried everything to get a serious water leak fixed.
“The water is coming from a pipe somewhere near the block of Housing NSW units on Cox Crescent. The Council was contacted and investigated. It found that the pipe was within the Housing NSW land and asked that it be fixed.
“That was in November 2008. But the pipe is still leaking.
“Since then, residents of Cox Crescent have again contacted the Council, Housing NSW, Sydney Water, the Department of Environment and Climate Change, and the Minister of Housing’s office – all to no avail.
“I commend the residents for all their efforts. It’s obviously very frustrating for them that no-one is taking any action.
“Water is pouring into the gutter and creating puddles. When the drain near the reserve becomes blocked, which I understand it does because of leaves, the constantly flowing water pools in the gutter. It’s unsafe and slippery. The residents are pulling the leaves out of the drain to prevent puddles forming.
“I am told the water is flowing rapidly from the leak. This can only mean that many thousands of litres of water are being lost every day. In these water-wise times, that is just pure waste and negligence.
“The Greens call on Housing NSW to repair the water pipes and fix the leak immediately. We know they are well aware of the problem.
“This is the second group of Housing NSW tenants who have contacted me about a water leak this summer. Only after months and inaction did Housing NSW fix a water leak in Glebe.
“Where water is leaking, Housing NSW must take speedy action to ensure we conserve water and protect safety and property,” said Ms Hale.
Contact: Colin Hesse 02 9230 3030 or 0401719124
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