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Workers First and the Australian Prison Officers Association says there are some serious questions to be asked of both the Queensland Labor government and the United Voice Union which have recently condemned GEO’s management of the Arthur Gorrie correctional Centre.
The assertions put by both the United Voice Union and the Queensland government would have the voting public believe that the Arthur Gorrie correctional Centre is perhaps the most dangerous prison within Queensland and possibly Australia under GEO’s management.
The startling statistics that have been revealed by GEO in a media release on 5 June 2019 regarding the prisons WorkCover premiums in contrast to the Queensland government managed prisons compel an investigation and in fact could even amount to just cause for a referral to the crime and corruption commission on the basis that the Queensland public may have been deliberately misled by United Voice Union or the Queensland Labor government or both.
Brian Newman said“Queensland taxpayers are entitled to know that the decision to cancel these contracts will lead to increased WorkCover claims when the prisons are returned to the control of the Queensland government, assuming that the figures are accurate.”
Mr Newman went on to say “our members and clients who work at the prison, raised concerns with us at the time the allegations were being peddled by the United Voice Union and the Queensland government regarding management of the centre and our members and clients were surprised to hear that they allegedly worked in Queensland‘s most dangerous prison where fight clubs were allegedly formed and crimes were perpetrated against prisoners, but most surprisingly was that these allegations were being made by the union that was meant to be representing their interests, rather than for the apparent ulterior agenda of ejecting GEO from the contract with the Queensland government to manage the prison.”
Mr Newman said “as far back as the last enterprise bargaining agreement being negotiated, we had secured sworn statements from prison officers who told us they were advised by officials of the United Voice Union that they had done a deal with the Police and Corrective Services Minister Mark Ryan to have GEO booted out of the prison. We are very keen to make those statements available for the Crime and Corruption Commission.”
Placing these two prisons in the hands of the state government for management will lead to tens of millions of dollars being sucked out of the public purse for no reason other than we have seen a union scaremongering campaign get out of hand and these figures ought to compel a responsible Queensland government to undertake an in-depth investigation into the facts that led to its decision to cancel the contracts.
Queensland voters and more importantly, taxpayers deserve to know the truth about the management of our prisons in Queensland and the astronomical increase to operating costs that will now be incurred because of seemingly baseless allegations and reckless scaremongering that has resulted the removal of GEO and Serco from the Queensland Corrective Services landscape.
This is a grave error on behalf of the Queensland Labor government and taxpayers will pay a heavy price for the baseless scaremongering we have seen recently.
We would like to see these contracts extended and the private providers kept in place to ensure Queensland taxpayers are getting value for money, but most importantly, so that prison officers are not put in situations which see them unnecessarily exposed to increased risk in the workplace.
END
For more information please contact Brian Newman on 07 3807 3807 or brian.newman@workersfirst.com.au
