The state government has accused the Opposition of grossly underfunding its plan to build a new prison in Northern Tasmania.
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Labor announced on Tuesday that, if it won government at the next election, it would allocate $150,000 in its first budget towards a scoping study for a new Northern prison.
The construction phase of the project would be funded by $40 million over the following two budgets.
Treasurer Peter Gutwein on Wednesday claimed that this had left a significant blackhole in Labor’s budget, highlighting that a 2013 internal government report stated a facility would cost $137 million to build with $30 million in recurrent spending.
“$40 million, by all accounts, will build about one-third of a prison,” he said.
Opposition finance spokesman Scott Bacon said the study would reveal an appropriate design for the facility.
He said the $40 million funding allocation was a good start for the prison’s construction, adding that there was enough money in unallocated infrastructure spending to complete the facility if it was needed.
A committee of the Legislative Council has been informally discussing for some time establishing an inquiry to assess the viability of a Northern prison.
It was recently briefed by the Justice Department who informed members that occupancy at Risdon Prison was at 90 per cent and some cells hand been double-bunked.
This had made association issues between prison gangs and rivals was hard to mitigate.
Prison boss Brian Edwards said the mix of prisoners, and feudal history between certain groups, created more violent incidents and risks to staff.
It was reported that the state had seen a significant increase in incarcerations with the population based at 589 inmates in May this year, compared to 524 in 2015-16.
Talks with the government about a Northern prison were said to be “well advanced”.
Western Tiers independent MLC Greg Hall has long supported a Northern prison to address crowding and cultural issues.
He said the government owned a large plot of land outside Deloraine, near the Ashley Youth Detention Centre, which was an ideal central location for North and North-West relatives.
Windermere independent MLC Ivan Dean said a new Northern prison would allow for segregation when needed and break up factions.