NSW reversed decision to allow UN inspection of prisons at last minute, committee told
New South Wales had committed to letting UN human rights inspectors visit the state’s jails before backflipping as the delegation was on its way to Australia, a federal budget estimates hearing has heard.
A 12-day visit to Australia by a delegation from the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture was cut short in October because of a lack of cooperation from NSW and Queensland.
The inspection, a condition of a human rights convention ratified by Australia in 2017, had been scheduled to take place during 2020 but was delayed over pandemic lockdowns.
Under its mandate, the subcommittee can carry out unannounced visits to all detention facilities and conduct private interviews with people deprived of their liberty.
Fielding a barrage of questions from senator David Shoebridge, the secretary of the federal Attorney-General’s Department said NSW had previously committed to inspectors having unfettered access to state-run jails.
“We had not been advised prior to the visit that NSW would not admit entry to subcommittee inspections,”
Katherine Jones said on Monday.
“We were only notified on the day the subcommittee was arriving in Australia that NSW would not facilitate visits.”
The visit was scheduled for 16-27 October, before it was abruptly suspended.
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Department deputy secretary Simon Newnham confirmed all states and territories agreed to facilitate the visits to their facilities “including NSW”.
Aisha Shujune Muhammad, the head of the four-member delegation, had said NSW stonewalling the inspectors was “a clear breach by Australia of its obligations” under the convention.
“It is deeply regrettable that the limited understanding of the SPT’s mandate and the lack of cooperation stemming from internal disagreements, especially with respect to the states of Queensland and New South Wales, has compelled us to take this drastic measure,” Muhammad said in a statement.
“This is not a decision that the [subcommittee] has taken lightly”.
At the time, the NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, defended his government’s decision on the grounds that funding commitments sought from the federal government were not met.
He described the NSW prison system as “the strongest in the country”.
“Our prison system is there ultimately to do one thing and that is: keep the people of NSW safe,” Perrottet told the state’s parliament.
“We’ve set up those oversights in our prison system and if people have issues ... you can raise them with the minister or the corrective services commissioner.”
The federal attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, slammed NSW’s backflip in October as “disappointing”.
The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was ratified in 2017 by Malcolm Turnbull’s government.