Thank you very much, Mr. Holland.
I had the privilege and responsibility of being on the advisory committee when the Parliamentary Budget Officer was trying to cost out one of the previous bills. And with the difficulty they had, as Ms. Campbell has identified, in obtaining information from the government about the costs, we have a significant concern.
The last time we had a costing of the amount to keep a woman in prison, it was around $185,000 a year. Of the figures I was provided today, I was advised this would impact approximately 910 women a year—minimum. Those are 10-year-old figures. So at that amount, we're looking at somewhere in the neighbourhood, I would say, of $10 million, and that's for women alone.
We know that disproportionately it will impact the number of women who may be retained in custody for a longer period of time. When we're talking from one-sixth to potentially longer than one-sixth, we're talking at least one year probably, maybe longer; it could be shorter—it could be as short as six months—but nevertheless, we're talking in the millions of dollars just for women alone.
We're talking about numbers that at 910 per year could mean two more prisons at least. It could also be three more prisons to five more prisons, depending on which figures you're looking at.