Mr REPACHOLI (Hunter) (16:40): 

In January of this year, I attended the National Corrections Day celebrations at Shortland Correctional Centre in Cessnock. On this day, I joined with custodial officers, community officers, industry workers, psychologists and programs officers, security and intelligence staff and dedicated administrative support teams to recognise the amazing work and, importantly, the amazing staff at the Shortland Correctional Centre in Cessnock. What an eye-opening experience it was for me. I was amazed at how big this complex was, with three jails on site, ranging from minimum through to maximum security.

Our corrections staff do a great deal of work with offenders, for very little recognition, but National Corrections Day is an opportunity to acknowledge the great work the staff do. I was honoured to have the chance to present awards to staff and congratulate them on their hard work and the achievements they have made. I was then lucky enough to take a tour of the facility before sampling some of the bread that was made that day on site. I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to all the custodial officers, community corrections staff, industry workers, psychologists and programs officers, and security and intelligence staff for all the work they do within our community. We are very lucky to have you as part of it.