A prisoner is still a person. One hour a day in the open air, under the sky, is about the most basic decency there is. Victoria used to guarantee it. Now the government has quietly taken it away.

The Corrections Amendment Act 2026 came into effect on 1 September 2026 and added an “operational considerations” override to a basic human right. In plain terms, it lets a prison cancel a prisoner’s one hour in open air whenever running the place gets too hard. So the rule bends to suit the failure, instead of the failure being fixed.

This is not a small thing. In a case before the supreme court in Victoria, the court found that denying a prisoner one hour in the open air each day breached the Corrections Act 1986. The court said the government was in the wrong. So the government changed the law.

That is the problem. When the State cannot run a prison properly, the answer is to run it properly. The answer is not to trample on human rights so the failure never has to be admitted.

This is not about going soft on crime. Wrongdoers are still locked up, and they should be. This is about a simple line a competent government does not cross: you do not erase a right just to hide that you could not meet it.

How can we ever expect prisoners to rehabilitate or return to society after doing their time ready to take part in a respectful, law abiding way, if we treat them worse than animals while they are in prison?

The demand is simple. Repeal the “operational considerations” override and restore the one-hour open-air rule.

I will fight to repeal the Corrections Amendment Act 2026 override and put the one-hour rule back where it belongs — as a right, not a convenience the State can switch off.

Here is what that means in practice:

• Repeal the “operational considerations” override introduced by the Corrections Amendment Act 2026.
• Restore the guaranteed one hour a day in the open air, in line with the Marrogi decision.
• Make the government fix the way prisons are run, not rewrite the rules to cover the cracks.
• Keep basic rights out of reach of a minister looking for an easy way out.

These are not radical ideas. They are the basics of a State that runs its own institutions competently and owns its failures instead of hiding them.

A government that cannot meet a rule should lift its game. It should not delete the rule.

Sign the petition. Restore the one-hour open-air rule.

Add your name  to repeal the Corrections Amendment Act 2026 override and bring back the guaranteed hour in the open air. Then share it with a neighbour, a workmate or a friend who believes a competent government fixes problems instead of hiding them.