On May 5, the Tasmanian Government ended two-and-a-half years of hotly contested prison site preparation work near Westbury when it found that the Ashley Youth Detention Centre is the more suitable location. 

Due diligence investigations are underway and the intention is to turn Ashley into a maximum security prison with a focus on rehabilitation and reintegration.

Community consultation with Ashley’s nearby residents found that a slim majority is opposed to the location, citing concerns including local safety, property values, traffic volume and the stigma for Deloraine and surrounds.

Meander Valley Council and Westbury Region Against the Prison Inc (WRAP) released statements regarding the decision and what this means for the region going forward. 

Meander Valley Council statement
Prison announcement provides more certainty for the Meander Valley community 

The announcement by the Tasmanian Government to investigate the suitability of the Ashley Youth Detention Centre site for a northern correctional facility provides further certainty for Meander Valley residents.

Mayor Wayne Johnston said Council would continue to focus on ensuring the community was kept informed throughout the process.

“Council is encouraged to hear that there has been a strong response to the Government’s community consultation process with a large number of our residents providing feedback through various avenues,” Mayor Johnston said.

“Council will continue to advocate for meaningful and ongoing consultation with the community as the project progresses and we will be seeking regular briefings from the Minister so we can help relay this information to our residents.

“As a planning authority Council needs to keep an open mind but we do recognise there are both positive and negative aspects arising from the project.

“These include benefits to jobs and the economy and also impacts on neighbouring residents and these issues will need to be fully explored by the Government before any final decisions are made.

“We look forward to being provided with more details by the Tasmanian Government in due course.”

Westbury Region Against the Prison statement
Wrapping up 

Linda Poulton
WRAP Inc President

For over two and a half years, WRAP has fought tirelessly against the senseless proposal to burden the small rural town of Westbury with the Northern Regional Prison.

When our group incorporated to take this fight up to the Government, our campaign’s catch cry was “Save Historic Westbury.”

The decision to move the proposal away from the Westbury region brings an end to WRAP’s campaign.

The amenity and character of our town have been preserved, not just through our efforts but because the two sites we campaigned against were bottom of the barrel choices.

This backflip on the prison mirrors the backflip on the Burnie Court. It shows that no good decisions are made in a hurry and without consultation.

This journey has been hard and divisive, but it has also been educational.

Tasmanians have been sold a lie. Prisons do not keep our communities safer.

They are a revolving door of misery which eventually spills out into the community. The more prisons we build the more at risk we become.

We have researched this in depth, and we know this.

We have learned that in order to keep us all safer, the focus of the criminal justice system must shift to rehabilitation, and away from punishment.

For this reason, we welcome the new ministerial title conferred upon Elise Archer MP (Minister for Corrections and Rehabilitation).

It’s one step towards rectifying this imbalance.

We sincerely hope that any Northern “correctional” facility proposed in future will have rehabilitation as its core focus, not punishment.

We still doubt that the core needs of inmates and staff can be met by a facility in the middle of a bucolic community, far from essential services.

So, if the proposal for Ashley is for a retrograde “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” facility, and the people of Deloraine and Exton oppose it, many of us here in Westbury will support them.