<please distribute widely>
Our calls and faxes this week to WA and Australian Democrats (below) will
determine whether the Court Government is able to retroactively impose
the privatisation of prisons in Western Australia under the guise of
reform.
1. ISSUE:
2. CIRCUMSTANCES:
3. URGENT ACTION:
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ISSUE:
The West Australian Upper House is this week expected to consider
legislation which would amend the existing Prison Act to enable private
operation of WA prisons.
The legislation and the Government's process for introducing private
prisons has, until recently, been firmly opposed by the Labor, Green and
Democrat parties of WA.
Succumbing to concerted pressure by Ministry of Justice Foss, there are
now strong indications that the Democrats will reverse their position and
support passage, lending credibility to the Government's imposition of a
process which has perverted any semblance of parliamentary democracy.
CIRCUMSTANCES:
The Court government has already tendered for and awarded the
construction and management of a new 750 bed medium security prison at
Wooroloo.
As issued, the Request for Proposal remarkably indicated that, in the
event that enabling legislation did not pass, the Government was prepared
to make alternative administrative arrangements to assure the
privatisation of prisons in WA, irrespective of parliamentary approval.
The Government has in fact scheduled the signing of contracts in two
weeks with Corrections Corporation of Australia, regardless of the
outcome in the Upper House.
A select parliamentary committee has spent the last six months examining
the issue of prison privatisation in WA, including investigation and
appraisal of privately operated prisons in other states and countries.
Yet the Upper House will now consider enabling legislation next week,
before the select committee has been granted the opportunity to complete
and table their report for parliamentary debate.
The background for consideration of private prisons in WA has been highly
questionable. A few years back, in the midst of growing turmoil in WA
prisons which subsequently led to an explosion in overcrowding, deaths in
custody and eventually riots resulting in 22 hour lockdowns which have
continued for six months at Casuarina Prison, the WA government engaged a
private consultant to evaluate the public prison system.
Recent disclosures revealed the identity of the consultant to be
Australasian Correctional Services, the Australian subsidiary of
Wackenhut Corrections, one of the two largest transnational private
prison contractors engaged in global operations.
ACS or Wackenhut is far and away the largest provider of incarceration
services in Australia, either public or private. ACS operates private
prisons, prison transport, prison health care, all commonwealth migrant
detention centres, police cells and is slated to bid for the operation of
juvenile detention centres in Victoria.
Not unexpectedly, the report recommended private management as the
solution to West Australia's prison problems.
URGENT ACTION:
Community groups in West Australia, particularly the Prisoners Advisory
Support Service, Deaths in Custody Watch Committee (WA), and the
Restorative Justice Network (WA) have called upon their national and
international counterparts to contact the following key WA and Australian
Democrats, starting on Monday 28 June, to strongly urge them to oppose
the passage of the Prisons Amendment Bill 1998.
Their support for the legislation effectively precludes adequate
community input into the challenging issues of prison reform, ignores
careful consideration by a select parliamentary committee and subsequent
debate by elected representatives and retroactively approves a long
process of manipulation of the issues by the Court government and the
Minister of Justice.
CALL, FAX AND EMAIL:
Key WA Democrats:
Helen Hodgson
tel: 08 9486 4081, fax: 08 9486 4086, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Helen claims to be personally opposed to privatisation but has been
subject to significant pressure by Minister for Justice Foss. She is
also the Democrats state representative in Canberra and a committed
member of the Uniting Church.
Norm Kelly
tel: 08 9486 4080, fax: 08 9486 4085
Key Australian Democrats:
Brian Greig, WA Senator-elect as of July 1
tel: 08 9481 1455, fax: 08 9481 1679
Meg Lees
tel: 02 6277 3991, fax: 02 6277 3996
Natasha Stott Despoja
tel: 02 6277 3645, fax: 02 6277 3235
Andrew Murray
tel: 02 6277 3709, fax: 02 6277 3767
Community contacts in Western Australia:
Prisoners Advisory Support Service:
Dorothy Goulding - 08 9497 8061, 041 347 8347
Brian Steels - 08 9272 9141, 041 990 7016
Deaths in Custody Watch Committee (WA)
Kath Mallott - 08 9277 1533, 0419 930 375
Glen Shaw - 08 9265 6960
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Positive Justice Centre:
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LMB 18, Suite 317, 353 King Street
Newton NSW 2042 Australia
+61 2 8250 5582
+61 2 9664 3094 phone/fax
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