Colin James: How the vanishing act of Robert Gordon Rigney is a master class in government spin

ANYONE waiting for answers on how an inmate managed to walk away from the state’s maximum security prison shouldn’t hold their breath, writes Colin James.

Remandee Robert Rigney was being held at Yatala Labour Prison.

ACTING prison boss Jackie Bray wants some answers on how a prisoner managed to walk away from the state’s maximum security jail. She’s not the only one.

It has been almost a week since Robert Gordon Rigney fronted up at Yatala Labour Prison after attending the funeral of his sister and her two children, killed in tragic circumstances at Hillier in June.

Rigney, 33, was fitted with an electric monitoring device and released from Yatala — where he was on remand for an alleged nasty assault in the city — on the condition he returned by 4pm last Friday.

By all accounts, Rigney did just that.

But, for reasons which have yet to be fully explained, he got fed up with waiting for staff in the prison’s admission office to process him so he walked out.

His next stop was the Holden Hill Police Station where, apparently, he told police officers he was meant to be back in Yatala.

Again, for reasons yet to be fully explained, he wasn’t driven back to Yatala, neither did the prison send anyone to pick him up.

So Rigney did a runner. He cut off his electronic bracelet and hasn’t been seen since.

Obviously it’s only a matter of time before he is found, arrested and put back in the slammer.

But that’s not the point. The issue right now is how he managed to just walk away in the first place.

Ms Bray — who has had six days to come up with some answers — was far from convincing when she went on 891 Adelaide ABC radio on Thursday morning.

The word obfuscation springs to mind when it comes to how she responded to questions from experienced interviewer David Bevan.

Rather than lay all the facts bare she opted for the standard practice of most senior bureaucrats, departmental officers and politicians.

The search continues for missing prisoner Robert Rigney, 33. Source: SAPOL

As normal, it went something like this.

Why did this happen? Sorry, I can’t answer that because the matter is under investigation.

What about this? Sorry, I am still waiting for the results of the investigation.

But how about that? Sorry, my investigation is still underway.

When do you expect to find out? I am still waiting for a report from one of my investigators.

Which leaves one thinking, just how stupid do the people paid large sums of money to manage our departments think the punters are?

Do they really think the average Joe doesn’t know that a detailed briefing would have been prepared for the Corrections Minister, Peter Malinauskas, by a ministerial liaison officer for his chief of staff as soon as there was a sniff of a problem with Rigney’s disappearance?

Do they really believe people inside government don’t know exactly what happened at Yatala and at Holden Hill because every individual involved has been spoken to — and that the whole process now is about managing the spin?

Mr Malinauskas’ office would have been verbally briefed by now. There is probably a three- or four-page document marked “confidential” somewhere in an in-tray or folder in his office.

But he can, quite legitimately, say: “I am waiting on a full report from the department.”

As for handling questions from inquisitive journalists, his staff can refer them to the Correctional Services Department because “it’s an operational matter”.

Attempts to link what happened to ongoing prison overcrowding, stretched police resources, police stations being used as temporary jails, overworked and understandably stressed corrections officers can be diverted with the same response.

The department can respond by saying it issued a statement on Wednesday and “we’re waiting on a full report on our investigation before we can comment further”.

Obfuscation. Avoidance. Delaying tactics. Spin.

It’s how government operates when it stuffs up. Standard operating procedure. Or SOP in public sector speak.

In the meantime Rigney will be found, he will be charged.

Further questions will be answered with “the matter is now before the courts and it would be inappropriate to comment”.

The report detailing what went wrong, meanwhile, will eventually end up in Ms Bray’s in-tray and an edited version will go to Mr Malinauskas.

If the media ask for it, they undoubtedly will be told to put in a Freedom of Information request. If that happens, all someone has to do is take into the Cabinet room and it will never see the light of day.

In a week’s time the whole thing will be forgotten about, there will be another crisis of some sort.

The vanishing act of Robert Gordon Rigney will become just another fading headline.

And that, fellow South Australians, is how government works.

So, if you are waiting for answers on exactly what went wrong, probably best not to hold your breath.