Prison privatisation exposed
Every now and then journalists get hold of a document that ends speculation, cancels out any guess work and provides undeniable proof of what is being considered or acted on at the very highest levels of Government.
This morning I recieved such a document.
Marked Cabinet in Confidence and titled Summary of Budget Savings – Priority Areas, the spread sheet lists more than 22 cost cutting measures targeting the Department of Corrective Services.
The document was drawn up in the latter part of last year by the department’s executive team – and appears to be in response to the Barnett Government’s demands for so-called efficiency dividends.
Internal and external prison programs, prison guard training and the privatization of services and more prisons in WA are all on the list of potential savings of around $9 million.
Yesterday, Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis said on this program that the suggestion Banksia Hill juvenile detention centre was being considered for privatization was nonsense. Here he is.
Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis
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But the possibility of contracting out Banksia Hill was definitely being looked at when this document was drawn up. In the end the suggestion is marked “NO – not at this stage”.
And under the heading “Other potential savings areas (Requires further discussion/investigation) the word privatization appears on two occasions.
There’s a lot to this document marked Cabinet and Confidence and to discuss it further I’m joined by Opposition Corrective Services spokesman