Tasmania’s prison service has spent more than $30 million on overtime in just over two years, with almost 40 prison officer positions left unfilled under a government vacancy control measure, Right to Information documents obtained by Labor show.
The Tasmania Prison Service (TPS) spent around $13.9 million on more than 138,000 overtime hours in 2024-25.
The bill rose to $15 million for more than 144,000 hours in 2025-26.
A further $2.9 million has gone on nearly 27,700 hours in July and August, which Labor said put the 2026-27 bill on track to exceed $17 million.
Labor released the overtime figures this week. Documents it obtained earlier this year showed almost 40 positions were being left unfilled.
Labor MP and shadow police minister Jen Butler said leaving the positions empty pushed the cost into overtime.
“It’s a huge waste of taxpayer dollars,” she said.
Butler described the overtime bill as “symptomatic of a broken system”, saying recruitment drives had failed for a decade.
Community and Public Sector Union Tasmanian secretary Thirza White, whose union represents correctional staff, said the vacancies were “a false economy”.
She said filling the 40 positions with permanent staff would have cost “a fraction of the $30 million spent on overtime”.
White said the spending was hard to reconcile with the government asking Tasmanians to accept job cuts for budget repair.
She said the prison population had doubled over 12 years without matching investment in staff.
“The simple fact is we do not have enough correction officers to open our prison on any day,” she said.
Tasmanian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Jake Smith said staff shortages had led to regular lockdowns.
“The number of lockdowns has a massive impact on those in TPS custody,” he said.
He said lockdowns disrupted rehabilitation programmes, legal appointments and connection with family and culture, particularly for Aboriginal prisoners.
Smith said a bail support program proposed by the legal service would reduce remand numbers and improve staff ratios.
Government minister Nick Duigan said the prison population had grown because the community wanted violent offenders off the streets.
He said he understood the government had recruited more than 200 prison officers since taking office.
“We’d like to see more full-time staff in the prison,” Duigan said.
Lockdowns were used only for safety, he said. A recruitment campaign is under way, with Tasmania competing against other states for staff, he said.
