Michael Yabsley

Michael Robert Yabsley (born 30 June 1956) is an Australian former politician. He was a Liberal member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the electorates of Bligh from 1984 to 1988 and Vaucluse from 1988 to 1994.

Early life Yabsley was born in Lismore. His father, Bob Yabsley, was a prominent pastoral farmer and a decedent of settler William Yabsley. Yabsley attended private schools in Lismore, and was a prefect at St John's College, Woodlawn. After graduating from school he spent a year in South Africa on an exchange with Rotary International. After university he went on to work as a public relations manager for the Livestock and Grain Producers Association. which included banning prisoners from having personal belongings including photos of their children, wedding rings, religious items, educational materials and hats. When prison chaplains at Bathurst Correctional Centre complained to the media about conditions caused by Yabsley's policies, he shut down church services at the prison, and forbid chaplains from making any statements without his prior approval.

Yabsley expressed outrage that an anti-apartheid activist, who was imprisoned for one-month for altering a piece of graffiti, was released after one week in prison. the removal of incentive to behave also caused an increase in assaults, decreases in compliance with work and education, and deteriorating rapport between prisoners and officers. According to David Grant, a former deputy chairman of prisons in NSW, Yabsley's policies were not in response to the crime rate, which evidence showed was decreasing, but simply due to his personal preference of a more punitive regime and a desire to keep people in prison longer.

Yabsley's policies yielded no positive effects, though did incur high costs. His decision to remove private property in prison cells was made against the advice of the Director of Prison Operations, who warned it would unite prisoners in violent demonstrations. Yabsley ignored this advice, and the subsequent riots against his policy, which were the first riots in NSW prisons since the 1970s, caused $6 million in damages and $4 million in lost contracts. As a result of his policies, NSW prisons experienced record levels of assaults, deaths and expenditure, and increased self-harm among prisoners and resignations among staff. according to Police Studies, the government deliberately transferred him to a portfolio where "he could do less harm". Following his removal, the more extreme policies he initiated in prisons were relaxed,

After being removed from his position as Minister of Corrections, Yabsley was made the Minister for State Development and Minister for Tourism. He resigned from the ministry in 1992, "in protest" of the circumstances that brought about the resignation of Premier Nick Greiner and Environment Minister Tim Moore. Greiner resigned after three independents who held the balance of power, including Clover Moore who had defeated Yabsley in 1988, told Greiner that unless he resigned they would withdraw their support from the government and support a no-confidence motion. and came out as gay in 2020.