Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion that I moved last month in relation to the Magill Youth Training Centre in my electorate in South Australia. The centre has been the subject of much controversy in recent times with the state Labor government facing difficulties over the mismanagement of their budget over a long period of time during the whole eight years that they have been in government. That mismanagement that has occurred has been reflected by the fact that they had to make a decision to reverse a previous decision to build a new youth training centre in South Australia. This motion was moved in the same terms in the Senate by Senator Hanson-Young, the Greens senator from South Australia, and I know that the member for Mackellar would be surprised by that bipartisan arrangement. But it highlights the fact that such was the anger towards the state Labor government that we got together and moved that motion. She was successful in having it passed in the Senate to highlight just how badly the state Labor government have been managing their budget.

In the week following my putting this motion on the Notice Paper the South Australian government buckled under all the pressure and backflipped. I thought of removing it, given that the issue had been dealt with. But I thought it still presented an important opportunity to talk about the effects of governments mismanaging budgets by spending too much money such as the impacts that has on the delivery of services to the community. This issue was starkly brought to my attention by a visit from Chris Varney, who is Australia’s youth ambassador to the United Nations. Mr Varney was successful in being one of the very few people to gain access to see the conditions inside the Magill Youth Training Centre. We all accept that young offenders need to be incarcerated from time to time. They should be if they commit offences. However, they should be incarcerated in a humane way—and we have just seen a motion before this House in relation to the mistreatment of young people. I think it goes beyond doubt that the treatment of the young people in this centre was and is still today not appropriate.

This motion also sought to bring to public attention the role of the Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth whose job it is to represent young people of our country at a federal level. Her role is not just to represent youth in the positive circumstances as she often does, but more importantly, for those young people who are in difficult circumstances. This minister also has a unique relationship with the South Australian Labor government, in particular those who made the decision not to go ahead with the rebuilding of the Magill Training Centre. We thought it was important that the minister involve herself in trying to resolve this issue through her unique position. I must say it is disappointing that, after three months, I still have not received a reply to a letter I wrote bringing this issue to her attention, but I guess she is very busy.

The centre was planned to be replaced as far back as 1999 when the then South Australian Liberal government announced it was to be rebuilt at Cavan. However, this was shelved when the Labor government took office in 2002. In 2006, the Rann government announced it would rebuild a suite of correctional facilities. However, due to the mismanagement of the state budget, the Rann government had to cut that promise in last year’s budget. They are using the tough-on-crime rhetoric that we often see with media Mike Rann, and his sidekick, the Treasurer. We know that that is all spin and no substance given that the gang of 49 seem to be running around South Australia at the moment doing what they like.

The Magill Training Centre has been criticised by everyone; from the Greens in the Senate, to our side of politics, to their social inclusion adviser, Monsignor Cappo, who we all presume—given that the Treasurer says anyone who criticises this is soft on crime—is also included in that criticism. Pressure from Stephen Wade, a spokesman in the state Liberal party; John Gardner, who is the candidate for Morialta; several media outlets, including Matt and Dave; and the state Labor government’s polling reflected that they needed to do something about it and thus we saw the backflip. A week after this motion was moved, the Minister for Families and Communities in South Australia, Jennifer Rankine, said that if they built this it would damage the state’s AAA credit rating.

That is quite an extraordinary announcement, that a $60 million one-off spend would actually damage the state’s AAA credit rating. It just highlights how this state Labor government’s waste and mismanagement over eight years has sent South Australia back to the bad old days of the State Bank. The worst thing is that we are seeing exactly the same thing in this national parliament today, with this Prime Minister. This government should be condemned for its waste and mismanagement. (Time expired)

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