On Ashley Site for Northern Prison …

Media release – Elise Archer, Attorney-General & Minister for Corrections, 9 December 2021

Community to be consulted on the future of Ashley Youth Detention Centre site

A community consultation process will be undertaken to obtain the views of the local community regarding the future use of the Ashley Youth Detention Centre (AYDC) site, many of whom have already suggested it be the site for a northern correctional facility.

While no decision has been made on moving the northern correctional facility, an initial evaluation indicates the AYDC site is well suited for a modern, state-of-the art correctional facility in northern Tasmania with a rehabilitative focus.

The consultation process will be facilitated by the Department of Justice and will enable the community to have their say in a number of ways.

The initial engagement focus will be with the immediate neighbours, followed by feedback from the broader Meander Valley and surrounding communities.

Community engagement will include:

• a ‘shop front’ style information booth in Deloraine and its surrounds, to provide information to, and hear directly from, community members;
• a dedicated website with up to date information; and
• opportunities for the community to express their views and provide feedback either by phone, email or by written submission.

Following this process, the Government will then decide whether to move the correctional facility to the AYDC site or to continue on the existing site at Birralee Road.

I  re-emphasise that no decision has been made and our focus is purely on what the community’s view is on the use of the AYDC site.

Importantly, we remain committed to delivering the northern correctional facility project that will create jobs and investment in the north, while providing a modern facility that will be specifically designed to ensure better outcomes for offenders and their families.

As part of this consultation, I reiterate that the northern correctional facility will have a rehabilitative focus and to deliver this, we will now invest in more maximum security facilities at the Risdon Prison Complex.

This will include the necessary investment of $50 million into the development of a new maximum security unit within the existing Risdon Complex.

This unit will help to alleviate the immediate bed pressures that exist for the most serious offenders and enable us to prioritise the Northern facility primarily for rehabilitation of offenders who are progressing through their sentences and starting to prepare for reintegration into the community.

The Government’s clear focus will be to now hear directly from the local community on the use of the AYDC site.

Media release – Rosalie Woodruff MP, Greens Corrections spokesperson, 9 December 2021

Greens Welcome AYDC Repurpose Assessment

We welcome the Premier’s confirmation that Ashley Youth Detention Centre is a suitable facility for a therapeutic northern prison.

While no final decision has been made, Mr Gutwein’s comments will give hope to many in the Westbury region, and around the state, who love Brushy Creek Reserve and don’t want it destroyed.

Ashley will close its doors as a place of abuse and sadness for young people in three years.

The Brushy Rivulet Reserve outside of Westbury has significant natural values, it’s no place for a prison. The masked owls, wedge-tailed eagles and the precious blue pincushion should be protected in perpetuity.

The reserve is also a rocky, high fire risk area, that’s nowhere near electricity, water or suitable road infrastructure. In contrast, AYDC is a 51-bed facility with services and infrastructure, located on 32 hectares of cleared land adjacent to the Bass Highway.

Ashley Youth Detention Centre is a sensible alternative site. We are pleased the Liberals are moving towards that option.

Media release – Westbury Regional Against the Prison, 9 December 2021

It ain’t over till it’s over

“The Department of Justice has taken three months to again announce that it will consult on the future potential of the Ashley Youth Detention Site to be used for the Northern Regional Prison. Today’s announcement adds little, if anything, to the statement made in September 2021.

WRAP naturally welcomes the proposal to consult the Deloraine community in advance, because this courtesy was not afforded to Westbury, and it shows that the government has lifted its game.

But our municipality is now, divisively, being asked to make a choice between two sites, and the Minister’s release suggests that the decision will be made solely on who wants it the least.

The community meeting in Deloraine in August this year showed the significant level of opposition to the Brushy Rivulet reserve site. Clearly, there is no social licence for it to go there.

Ongoing and growing opposition to the Brushy Rivulet reserve must be taken into account for any consultation process to have merit. The question is: how will community sentiment on the Brushy Rivulet reserve be assessed?

And whilst consultation is critical, the merits of the respective sites will also need to be balanced out.

Today’s announcement does not provide closure for WRAP. We have been told that the architectural tender process for the Brushy Rivulet reserve has been put on hold while the government nuts this out, but the refusal to abandon the Brushy Rivulet site altogether means we cannot and will not be complacent.

The federal government could stop the prison at the reserve with the stroke of a pen. It would then be dead in the water, regardless of what the state government does or doesn’t do with the Ashley site.

Today’s announcement has no impact whatsoever on our federal election campaign. Unless Environment Minister Sussan Ley declares the Brushy Rivulet reserve as off limits, we will have no choice but to lobby people not to vote for the Liberal candidate for Lyons in the upcoming election, and that’s exactly what we’ll do”.