Justice Ministry prison contracts to go on Internet

23/3/00
In what is believed to be a world first, the State Government is publishing two key Ministry of Justice contracts on the Internet.
Attorney General Peter Foss said today that the contracts with a private company, Corrections Corporation of Australia, to operate Acacia Prison - now under construction - and to provide court custody and security and prisoner transport would be the most public of any Government contracts in history.
"Anyone, anywhere in the world, who has access to a computer connected to the Internet will be able to look at every detail of these contracts," he said.
"Traditionally, such contracts have been regarded as highly confidential and this has become a matter of high controversy overseas and in other parts of Australia where mixed public/private prison systems have been introduced.
"However, I could see no reason whatever for secrecy - and every reason to make the contracts available to anyone who wanted to read them.
"The Government is proud of the great advances in offender management that are enshrined in these contracts - improvements that will deliver major benefits to the community and offenders - and we want the whole world to know about them."
Mr Foss said the Government had written into the enabling legislation for both projects that the contracts must be tabled in Parliament, and this would be done.
"However, I do not believe that this makes them accessible quickly and easily enough on a State-wide, nation-wide and world-wide basis," he said.
"I expect that the groundbreaking advances Western Australia is making in offender management will attract attention from other governments, academics and community organisations interested in custodial management.
"Right from the start of the process of introducing private-sector involvement in offender management in WA, I have acted on the belief that this was an opportunity to break new ground in transparency and accountability as well.
"We have done this by giving regular updates to Parliament, by giving detailed information to the news media for the general public and by speaking direct to stakeholders throughout the past two years.
"Conspiracy theories abound in offender management. Many people believe that prisons are actually comfortable holiday camps for crooks while others view them as places of torture and brutality. The truth does not get much of a look-in between these extremes.
"The reality is that prisons are a sad necessity of life. They have the challenging task of trying to find the most productive balance between punishment and rehabilitation.
"But the very need for them to be secure means that what happens within them is not readily visible to the community, and this feeds misunderstanding and distortion.
"Apart from matters of operational security, which have obvious implications for the protection of the community, I intend to maximise openness so that a higher level of reality is injected into public discussion of custodial issues.
"Publishing these contracts on the Net, and thus making them accessible by virtually everyone on earth, is the ultimate in openness."
Mr Foss said the contracts were being placed on the Ministry of Justice website, http://www.justice.wa.gov.au

Media contact: Danielle VanKampen 9321 2222