At 24 Yabsley was a Liberal party
candidate at the
1980 federal election for the seat of
Fraser in the
Australian Capital Territory, though was defeated by
Ken Fry. In 1984, Yabsley defeated Labor MP
Fred Miller to win the NSW state seat of
Bligh in Sydney for the Liberal Party. However, in 1988 he was defeated by
Independent candidate
Clover Moore. The death of
Ray Aston, the Liberal member for
Vaucluse, allowed Yabsley to re-enter parliament; he was elected unopposed in the by-election. He was immediately appointed as
Minister for Corrective Services. Yabsley took an extremely punitive approach to prison, saying he wanted to be remembered as "someone who has put the value back in punishment". He led a campaign to make conditions in custody harsher, 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. Yabsley resigned from parliament in 1994. == Personal life ==