BANKSIA HILL DETENTION CENTRE — FOUR CORNERS
REPORT
693. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question. If
Banksia Hill Detention Centre is working incredibly well and effectively, why
has the Premier announced meetings with experts who have voiced their concerns,
and stepped in to ban the use of folding in Banksia Hill, a practice that is
banned in other states?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
If there are any other good ideas
out there about how we can improve things, I will accept them. If the Leader of
the Opposition has some ideas, she can tell us. I would be interested if she
has a single idea. Anything whatsoever? I get crickets from the opposition. If
people out there have an idea that can work, of course we will look at it. Why
would we not? People have been vocal in public about how the system is not
right, so I want to hear what their alternatives
are. What you find in political life, particularly when in government, is that
a lot of people criticise and say that you should not do this or that,
but what are their alternatives, apart from what I saw last night, when the journalist led the program by saying that there
should not be any detention whatsoever? That is not an option we are
going with. We actually care about victims. I care about the Danny Hodgsons. I care
about the people whose homes are broken into and who are assaulted in their
beds. I care about the police officers who have cars driven at them. I care
about the women who are raped. We have to actually take into account their
interests, too.