Media release – Concerned Residents Opposed to the Westbury Prison Site (CROWPS), 20 November 2020
5 MONTHS ON AND THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING
Five months on from the surprise announcement by Premier Gutwein moving the Northern Regional Prison to the proposed new site at Brushy Rivulet Crown Reserve, Westbury, Tasmanians still have not received any substantial information on where the project is at.
At the first meeting with the Department of Justice on 1 July 2020, CROWPS members were advised that due diligence would be completed by the end of July 2020. One would expect environmental investigations should take a long time to complete, if done properly, but surely other reports could have been completed by now. According to the Department of Justice, the development application is due to be submitted to the Meander Valley Council in December 2020.
So, with seemingly no answers available for the Tasmanian taxpayers, what are they hiding?
CROWPS have consistently been trying to seek answers from local government right through to the Minister for Corrections, but at every turn have been frustrated due to the lack of information, passing the buck, being redirected or simply not being provided with any answers. This recurring lack of communication and non-transparency in the matter is simply not good enough.
Our Government seems to thrive on keeping their constituents in the dark and their ‘smoke and mirrors’ approach has become even more apparent in recent days with the Ombudsman’s damning report regarding the Tasmanian Government’s lack of transparency.
CROWPS members are looking forward to the Tasmanian Government’s commitment to becoming more transparent by improving openness and accountability of Government decision-making (quoted from ‘Our record on openness and transparency’, written by Minister Elise Archer on 18 November 2020) and trust the Premier’s promise to ‘ease the secrecy’ will include the Northern Regional Prison project.
