Government vows to build northern prison, Hobart remand centre if re-elected

THE Tasmanian Government will spend $340 million to build new prison facilities in the state’s North and South if re-elected, the premier has promised.

Justice Minister Elise Archer and Premier Will Hodgman speaking about plans for a prison based in the North of the state. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

PREMIER Will Hodgman has not ruled out Ashley Detention Centre as the site of a new Northern prison as part of a $340 million law and order package promised in the lead-up to the election.

The government on Sunday pledged $340 million toward prison infrastructure, including a 270-bed prison in the state’s north and a new remand centre in the south for up to 70 inmates.

The new facilities will keep the community safe and boost the economy, with the creation of more than 4000 jobs, Mr Hodgman says.

Tasmania’s only current prison, Risdon, houses 550 beds.

The commitments are in addition to upgrades to the Ron Barwick Minimum Security Prison and a new mother and baby unit announced in the 2017-18 state Budget.

Minister for Corrections Elise Archer said the northern prison, to include a women’s prison facility, would also boost rehabilitation prospects because it would be easier for families to visit prisoners from the region.

The new Hobart remand facility would be completed within the next term of government, with the first stage of the northern prison project to be completed within five years and house an initial 140 prisoners.

Prisoner’s Legal Service chair Greg Barns welcomed the plan for a prison facility in the north, but said he believed Ashley Youth Detention Centre should be closed and repurposed as the northern prison to enable prisoners to be immediately moved closer to their families.

“The government seems to be locked into a strategy of increasing jail numbers quite substantially in Tasmania purely for political reasons,” Mr Barns said.

“This is money which would be much better spent on crime prevention and rehabilitation rather than simply building jails.”

Mr Hodgman said he would have more to say about the future of Ashley Youth Detention Centre shortly, and has not ruled the facility out as a location for the northern prison.

Labor leader Rebecca White said her party’s priorities were not housing prisoners, but addressing causes of crime such as poverty with measures such as affordable housing strategies.

Labor has allocated $40m to replace the existing Launceston Remand Centre.