The ACT's new Corrections Minister wants improved health support for prisoners in the territory, and a boost to assistance when detainees are released into the community.
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Emma Davidson, who was handed the corrections portfolio in a cabinet reshuffle in December, said she wanted to strengthen the links between corrections authorities and community health providers, and said there were "questions to be answered" over the way the government was handling Indigenous over-representation in the justice system.
"I am in a really good position of already having seen what some of the work is that needs to be done from the justice health perspective, and a mental health and well-being perspective, already," Ms Davidson said on Thursday.
"So I have some awareness of where there are some really good opportunities to address people's mental health and well-being needs, to address their physical health and well-being needs, and their drug and alcohol support needs.
Ms Davidson said better support for people leaving prison would make the community safer and give those people better life outcomes.
Ms Davidson made her first public comments as Corrections Minister on Thursday after the government released a report that assessed a trial of an external reporting site for Indigenous people.
The report found overwhelming support for the external reporting site, which opened in Fadden in July 2021 and is known as Yeddung Mura, and said the government should consider expanding the service.
Yeddung Mura, the report said, provided "a culturally supportive approach to case management and supervision by working with the clients on building positive relationships and reporting outcomes".
"By offering external reporting sites to non-Indigenous Australians, [ACT Corrective Services] could improve the range of interventions that reduce the risks of a client breaching their order conditions. For example, enabling reporting at alternative locations can reduce a client's interactions with negative influences in the Canberra City," the report said.
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Ms Davidson said the government would consider the recommendations, which included opening more reporting sites.
"Whenever you find something that is working well, you want to be able to do more of it and make that accessible to more people in the community," she said.
Ms Davidson said the government would consider every option to make it easier for people to meet their reporting requirements under corrections orders.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr handed Ms Davidson the corrections portfolio in his December reshuffle, while at the same time taking away Ms Davidson's responsibility for the disability ministry. Ms Davidson has also taken on a new ministry for population health, and retained her previous portfolio of justice health.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
