Western Australia Minister for Corrective Services Terry Redman

Communities See Millions Of Benefits In Repay WA

Victor P Taffa

Compliance with community work orders has surged under the Liberal-National Government, with taxpayers and local projects proving to be the big winners.

Corrective Services Minister Terry Redman and Mount Lawley MLA Michael Sutherland today inspected the work of a Repay WA crew at Breckler Park in Dianella.

Mr. Redman said adult community work, known as Repay WA, provided offenders with a range of opportunities to develop work skills while providing valuable labour on local projects.

“At any one time there are about 400 of these work projects operating across the State.” Mr. Redman said. 

“Last financial year, 144,000 hours of adult community work were completed – this equates to about $2.294 Million worth of labour.”

The Minister said providing offenders with high-visibility Repay WA vests helped enhance public awareness and support of community work as a sentencing option. 

“The cost benefits are significant in that the average cost of keeping an adult offender in custody in Western Australia is about 10 times the cost of supervising an offender in the community.” Mr. Redman said.

“Compliance with community work orders in the Perth Metropolitan area has jumped from just 40 % in June 2008 under the previous Labor Government, to 50 % in June 2009, peaking at 92 % in November 2010.”

Repay WA is carried out by offenders who have converted court-imposed fines to community work or have been sentenced to complete community work orders.

Department of Corrective Services provide equipment including vehicles and trailers, plus trained officers to oversee graffiti removal, construction work and general maintenance tasks.

Mr. Redman thanked Mr Sutherland for his support of the Repay WA Program. The work at Breckler Park, which aims at preserving the park’s native vegetation and unique wildflowers, followed the Department of Corrective Services partnering with City of Stirling’s Adopt a Park Program.

“Mr. Sutherland plays an active role in his community and I know he’s thrilled with the significant sustainability work that’s been under way at Breckler Park for three months.” Mr. Redman said.