Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to speak briefly on two different issues, both of which involve my home state of Western Australia. Firstly, I rise to congratulate the state government—more particularly, the state Minister for Corrective Services—for finally reaching an agreement with the federal government to allow the transfer of convicted heroin trafficker Holly Deane-Johns from a prison in Thailand back home to Australia. Prisoner transfer arrangements have up until now been supported by both sides of politics and have been conducted in a bipartisan and non-confrontational way. And indeed that is the way it should remain. If we believe in the rehabilitation capacity of our own corrective services institutions and the rehabilitative support that is provided by educational institutions in Australia and by being near family and others, then prisoner transfers are something that should always be supported.

I was therefore somewhat dismayed that, when Ms Deane-Johns’s transfer was originally proposed by the government, the Minister for Corrective Services in Western Australia, Margaret Quirk, decided not to agree to the transfer on the basis that, ‘We are not running a dating service.’ I am pleased that at long last and after numerous representations from the state member for Perth, John Hyde, the member for Collie-Wellington, Mick Murray, and the member for Mindarie, John Quigley, Ms Quirk has come to reconsider her initial approach. I am pleased that she has realised that Ms Deane-Johns’s capacity to recover from her addiction and address her health issues depends on being in Australia and that to have a chance at some form of rehabilitation and recovery and to start a normal life she needs to be in Australia and not left to rot in a jail in Thailand. I have one issue with Ms Quirk’s media release that announced the transfer. She said in that release:

Under the Administrative Arrangement between the Governor-General and the Governor of the State of Western Australia, the WA government will meet the cost of Ms Deane-Johns’ transfer to Australia and the ongoing cost of her incarceration in a WA prison. No costs will be met by the Federal Government despite Ms Deane-Johns being classified as a Federal prisoner.

While I accept that at face value—and that is the way it always is with prisoner transfers—that point is a bit cute by half in that anyone who has worked in the corrective services sector would know that the Commonwealth government, no matter what its political persuasion, makes an annual grant to every state and territory corrective service agency, allowing such facilitation and allowing for the incarceration of federal prisoners. The Western Australian government is no exception: it gets an annual allowance. It is a bit cute by half for Ms Quirk to try to score political points after finally making a decent, human and compassionate decision. It would be better if we returned to treating prisoner transfers as we always had until that intervention: in a non-partisan, non-political way, with the best interests of the individual and our community at the centre of our decisions.

I would now like to turn to something that is a lot more pleasant. I want to place on record this evening that I had the honour of going over to the House of Representatives to listen to the final contribution to the federal parliament by my friend and colleague Graham Edwards, the member for Cowan. Graham has served his community and his party with great integrity and diligence over an extended period. It was indeed an honour to be there. Graham commenced his political life as a local government councillor at the City of Stirling. He then went into state parliament in the legislative council and served as a minister in a Labor government. Then, after retiring from state politics, he could not help but take on the challenge of winning Cowan back for Labor. He has been a member of the federal parliament since 1998.

Graham’s service to the Labor Party and to the community of the northern suburbs has been above and beyond anything that I could begin to express here. His commitment to the issues that he passionately believes in is something to behold. Graham and I do not always agree on a lot of issues, but the parliament is a much better place for people such as Graham choosing to take up a political life. I am sure that we will miss him enormously. He brought a unique perspective, particularly because he is the only veteran in the entire federal parliament. As someone who is supporting Peter Tinley’s campaign in Stirling, I am hopeful that we will get another veteran over in the House of Representatives come the federal election. Graham brought a unique perspective to this parliament and his contribution is one that not only those on this side but all the parliament will miss.