Page 3345 - Week 11 - Thursday, 11 November 2021
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Stoppers. However, constituent matters, of course, do go back to them via ACT Policing.
Mrs Jones interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Mrs Jones, next time you will be warned.
MS LAWDER: A supplementary question. Minister, could you table in the Assembly the details of the responses back to constituents when they make complaints—how many complaints were received and how many pieces are provided to those complainants?
MR GENTLEMAN: I will be able to take the detail of that on notice. Of course, there are quite a number of privacy issues in regard to that.
Ms Lawder: We do not need names.
DR PATERSON: A supplementary. Minister, could you please outline how the new police services model will improve communication between police and the community?
MR GENTLEMAN: I thank Dr Paterson for her interest in community safety. It is a fantastic opportunity for police to work much more strongly with the ACT community. As we have seen in other jurisdictions, the PSM means they are able to work with the community on hand, right in their neighbourhoods, to deliver better outcomes for the community. Police have taken up the opportunity with gusto, and their teams are out now, working with community members to make sure there is less crime across the ACT. That has resulted in lower crime numbers.
Data over the last number of years shows that we have had dramatic reductions in crime across the territory, so I am very pleased with that operation so far. It will continue to roll out. It was a big investment by this government—an investment, of course, that the Canberra Liberals voted against in the last budget. I certainly hope that they will vote for police resourcing in this budget.
ACT Policing—resources
MS CASTLEY: My question is to the minister for police. The President of the Australian Federal Police Association said on ABC radio: “I would argue that ACT Policing have been under-resourced for some time. It would be good to see Minister Gentleman inject a hundred or so police officers into ACT Policing—200 to get us in line with the minimum standard that is set across Australia in terms of numbers per hundred thousand. It’s times like this that you see the minimum numbers would be really useful, to have an extra hundred bodies to throw at this disaster, then we could really kick some goals.” Minister, how can a police force not at minimum numbers for normal times possibly cope with the extra demands and stresses of a COVID situation?
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