Gippsland › Latest news › Gippsland Portal Local NewsAssurances on replacement prison for Won Wron needed nowGLGN Chairperson has called on the State Government to provide a clear indication that the replacement for Won Wron Prison will be built in the Yarram area GLGN Chairperson, Councillor Tony Hanning, has called on the State Government to provide a clear indication to the Gippsland community that the replacement for Won Wron Prison will be built in the Yarram area, and that it will be built and run by the State. Cr Hanning said the disclosure in the State Budget that the minimum security prison farm at Won Wron would be closed, together with the Bendigo prison, was another blow to the Gippsland community. "A closure of this magnitude has a significantly detrimental financial impact on the surrounding community. Forty jobs will be lost at Won Wron, together with more than 2million dollars per year spent with local businesses. However, there are other impacts that have a negative effect on surrounding communities, which are easy for governments to overlook. "Prisoners at Won Wron make a significant contribution to the region, particularly within Wellington Shire, where enormous work has been done in plantations, National Parks and on projects that benefit the local community such as lawn mowing and maintenance of local halls," Cr Hanning said. "The citizens of the Latrobe Valley can provide a first hand account of how much that sort of contribution is missed as a consequence of the Morwell River Prison Farm being closed in the 1990’s. It was not just the loss of employment by prison staff and the fact that the salaries normally spent in the local communities were lost, but the prisoners themselves contributed to the community with the work they undertook on projects throughout the region. All that was lost," Cr Hanning said. "The Budget announcement of the closure of the rural prisons without any disclosure indicating where the two new facilities will be built, obviously causes a great deal of worry and concern to those currently employed at Won Wron, and the surrounding community. It is essential that the State Government quickly makes its intentions clear and gives an undertaking that the new facilities will be established in the areas where the closures are taking place, and that at least one of the two facilities is built in Gippsland. It should of course preferably be located in the Yarram area to compensate the local community for the dramatic impact on their local economy of the Won Wron closure. "A number of our prison facilities have ageing infrastructure which it is conceded, are difficult to maintain and modernise. While the closure of Won Wron seems derogatory for Gippsland, provided it is being replaced in the same area in the same timeframe with one of the new facilities, and there is no loss of jobs, there may be benefits for Gippsland. But we must have a government assurance on this," Cr Hanning said. "It is particularly vital that the State Government builds and operates the new facilities. The experiment with the privatisation of prisons, hospitals, power utilities and public transport by the Kennett Government is now a proven disaster. Far from benefiting the community, privatisation destroyed regional employment and caused extensive damage to the economy of Gippsland. "This Government must ensure that the privatisation madness is not only halted, but reversed. Prisons must be the responsibility of the State Government and directly administered by them. The State Government itself must provide leadership and take responsibility for the day to day administration of prison services," Cr Hanning said. Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: latrobecity@gippslander.com
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