GREENOUGH REGIONAL PRISON — CRITICAL INCIDENT
637. Hon JIM CHOWN to the minister
representing the Minister for Corrective Services:
I refer to the
minister's answer to question without notice 592.
(1)
Can the minister please explain why he has let staffing levels at Greenough
Regional Prison drop from 102.5 FTE in July 2017 to only 89 FTE in July 2018?
(2)
Can the minister also explain how he can still blame the previous Liberal–National
government's staffing freeze when he has been the Minister for
Corrective Services for almost 18 months?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the
honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)
Further to the answer provided in question 592, the service level staffing
agreement for prison officers at Greenough Regional Prison is 94 full-time
equivalents. FTE levels at any site can vary from time to time for reasons such
as retirement, resignations and return to the metropolitan area. The safe
staffing levels of prisons is a priority for the minister as demonstrated by
the commencement of a local recruitment campaign in the region.
(2)
The member needs be reminded that our government lifted the staffing freeze
arbitrarily placed on the public sector by the Liberal–Nationals, which
made it difficult for Greenough Regional Prison to recruit for the foreseeable
future and for the natural attrition rate. Notwithstanding this, the department
has commenced a local recruitment campaign to maintain staffing levels into the
future. As with most occupations requiring specialist training, there is a time
delay between the recruitment period and when an officer commences operational
duty. The staffing freeze delayed this process.