Penny Wright (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Ludwig, representing the Attorney-General and the Minister for Justice, and it is about the unprecedented growth in Australia's remand population over the last 30 years, which was about one in 10 in the early 1980s and is now more like one in four. Given that the number of people on remand in my home state of South Australia is even higher, at 32 per cent or one in three prisoners, can the minister please tell me: how is the Attorney-General's Department working with the states and territories to develop policy options for reducing the large number of prisoners held on remand across the country? In particular, has the Justice Reinvestment Working Group, which sits under the National Justice CEOs Group, considered or made any recommendations about addressing the remand situation as a cost-effective means of reducing overall prison populations in Australia?