A new $19.8 million kitchen at Hobart’s Risdon Prison Complex has stopped production just three months after opening, forcing staff to ship daily meals from Victoria.
The facility began operating on April 4 but shut down on July 10 for rectification works.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) said workers had raised concerns for years but felt their warnings were never properly heard.
“Workers raised concerns throughout the consultation and risk assessment process. The frustrating reality for many members is that they feel those warnings were never properly listened to,” CPSU organiser Adam Gore said.
The closure is reportedly linked to problems with the kitchen floor, which is understood to have been laid using the wrong aggregate mix and was not draining properly.
The Department of Justice described it as an issue with the floor’s slip resistance.
Gore warned the cost of sourcing meals from Victoria could climb above $90,000 a week.
He said staff stepped up immediately when production stopped.
“When production ceased, workers didn’t walk away. They immediately got to work organising alternative meal arrangements, freight logistics and food distribution to ensure around 1,000 prisoners across Tasmania continued receiving meals,” Gore said.
CPSU delegate Miki said the problems had taken a toll on staff.
“The issues with the facility have been so severe that they have affected both the physical and mental health of employees,” Miki said.
The government reportedly committed funding for the kitchen in October 2024 to replace ageing facilities built in the 1970s. The project reached practical completion in January.
Labor’s Jen Butler said the failure raised serious questions about the cost of the shutdown.
“The Liberals need to come clean about how much it is costing each week to ship meals for 1,000 prisoners to Tasmania and how much will have [to] be spent to fix the kitchen cock-up,” Butler said.
“Labor sympathises with the workers who have been left to clean up the mess of this latest Liberal failure.”
