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Category
![Australia’s prison rates are up but crime is down. What’s going on?](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/611af32c6871a517575a7522/1630474870855-E84QF0LWAZ56PDN5W3X8/Generic+Thumbnail+1.jpg)
Australia’s prison rates are up but crime is down. What’s going on?
Imprisonment rates in Australia are currently the highest they have been in a century, despite a significant fall in crime, and the Productivity Commission is stepping in to determine why.
![Northern prison on hold as government considers third site](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/611af32c6871a517575a7522/1633439073054-8QIVW3G8ENNQ7AXPE33I/06_ashley.jpg)
Northern prison on hold as government considers third site
The government’s choice of a site for a new northern prison is in limbo while its ministers battle over the choice between a bush reserve on Birralee Road or the Ashley Youth Detention Centre.
![Company owning first prison site wins export award](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/611af32c6871a517575a7522/1629328927250-0QV7H8XOGPCWFTFZ4Y5M/Generic+Thumbnail+2.jpg)
Company owning first prison site wins export award
The Westbury business whose land was chosen as the first site for a northern prison has won the international health category of the 2021 Tasmanian Export Awards.
![Mitchell’s Westbury foothold](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/611af32c6871a517575a7522/1629337508410-C15BKF17YOY0PD2DQIEY/Generic+Thumbnail+1.jpg)
Mitchell’s Westbury foothold
Federal Labor MP Brian Mitchell has rented a building on the main street in Westbury in the fight to retain his seat in the coming federal election.
![Heroic ratepayers shiver on basketball court to give council a piece of their minds](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/611af32c6871a517575a7522/1629337508410-C15BKF17YOY0PD2DQIEY/Generic+Thumbnail+1.jpg)
Heroic ratepayers shiver on basketball court to give council a piece of their minds
As Meander Valley mayor Wayne Johnston straddles the hurdle of the proposed northern prison, he must be feeling mighty uncomfortable.
![Get us out of this prison mess, public meeting tells council](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/611af32c6871a517575a7522/1630482584687-LJSNXKVJCWO5FHRNVBW6/03_public_meeting.jpg)
Get us out of this prison mess, public meeting tells council
A public meeting about the prison proposed for the Birralee reserve site has asked Meander Valley Council to revoke all support to the project and do its own socioeconomic study on the benefits of a prison at Westbury.
![Northern prison faces a shortage of correctional officers, says union](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/611af32c6871a517575a7522/1630480930611-XUA30A9LGCSIU57UWQ8M/11_prison_ad_torn.jpg)
Northern prison faces a shortage of correctional officers, says union
If the State Government continues its current ineffectual correctional officer recruiting policy it will never have enough people to run a high security northern prison, says a union official.
![Lower budget spend on northern prison in 2021–2022](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/611af32c6871a517575a7522/1630474870855-E84QF0LWAZ56PDN5W3X8/Generic+Thumbnail+1.jpg)
Lower budget spend on northern prison in 2021–2022
The state government has radically downgraded its 2020–2021 spending estimates on the proposed northern prison in its August annual budget.
![Prison friction over drilling and woodhooking](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/611af32c6871a517575a7522/1629776347632-OF07AEZQXR62TO3EGPG0/03_shepherd_birralee.jpg)
Prison friction over drilling and woodhooking
Woodhookers caught cutting down trees on the Birralee reserve proposed for the state government’s new prison are being investigated by Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service compliance unit. They may be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions to determine whether a prosecution should begin, a spokesperson said.
![Gutwein admits reserve is ‘sensitive’ while pursuing offset strategies](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/611af32c6871a517575a7522/1629337508410-C15BKF17YOY0PD2DQIEY/Generic+Thumbnail+1.jpg)
Gutwein admits reserve is ‘sensitive’ while pursuing offset strategies
Federal environment minister Sussan Ley has written to the Tasmanian government as a reminder of its responsibility to refer the Northern Regional Prison to her department. Having received no referral from the Tasmania Government, she wrote in response to reports from Tasmanians that several listed threatened species are potentially present on the Brushy Creek Reserve site and may be significantly impacted by the proposal.
![Council meeting on fire over prison public meeting](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/611af32c6871a517575a7522/1629774297965-2HCVBOOHMKRQC3TMQJJH/05_council_meeting.jpg)
Council meeting on fire over prison public meeting
Anti-prison campaigners are concerned Meander Valley councillors will gag themselves in an August 11 public meeting on the Northern Regional Prison planned for Birralee. WRAP spokesperson Linda Poulton said, ‘If councillors are going to sit with tape over their mouths it will be a difficult meeting for everyone’.
![Flush 3Ps only says TasWater after smelly episode](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/611af32c6871a517575a7522/1629337508410-C15BKF17YOY0PD2DQIEY/Generic+Thumbnail+1.jpg)
Flush 3Ps only says TasWater after smelly episode
Bad smells wafting over Westbury and sewage bubbling up in gardens during July’s wet weather was caused by residents flushing prohibited items down their toilets, TasWater said.
![Prison drilling starts again](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/611af32c6871a517575a7522/1629328927250-0QV7H8XOGPCWFTFZ4Y5M/Generic+Thumbnail+2.jpg)
Prison drilling starts again
Work on the Northern Regional Prison on Birralee Road has ramped up now the State Government’s self-imposed election gag on the issue is over, but the State Government could yet find that its chosen site is illegal.