Page 326 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 1 March 1994
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funding gates and provide some sought after minor plant and equipment for a lot of police stations. Police morale is, as a result, very high. We are delivering a police budget that is very efficient, and the result of that efficiency is now flowing through.
Mr Humphries: On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker: I am really pleased to hear that we have more money for police radars and other police equipment, but we are talking here about community policing and preventative policing. Could the Minister please talk about that issue, particularly as far as Canberra's police and citizens youth clubs are concerned?
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: I must uphold the point of order, Mr Attorney.
MR CONNOLLY: Mr Deputy Speaker, it is a fatuous point of order.
Ms Follett: Mr Deputy Speaker, if I could debate that point of order for one moment, Mr Humphries's own matter of public importance, as submitted, refers to the need to promote preventative policing and community safety through activities such as, but presumably not exclusively confined to, the Canberra police and citizens youth clubs. I consider that the Minister, in making remarks on other activities also aimed at preventative policing and community safety, is perfectly within the standing orders.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: I think, Chief Minister, you are putting the stress on the first part of the matter.
Ms Follett: Mr Deputy Speaker, I am reading the matter of public importance as put forward by Mr Humphries in its entirety.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: You are, quite properly, putting your interpretation on the first part of it. I was putting mine on the second part of it. I think probably the Attorney will be returning to the general debate now.
Mr Kaine: I would like to take a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. It has nothing to do with whether we are looking at the first words of the matter or the last words. If the Minister wants to talk about what is going on in his police force, he should be discussing how he can divert some of that $1.5m surplus to the question Mr Humphries has raised, that is, the maintenance of the youth clubs, rather than spending it on other things. The Minister does not seem to be at all concerned about the youth clubs, but he is concerned about buying equipment. He might address the matter that is before us.
MR CONNOLLY: Mr Deputy Speaker, the Liberal Party has successfully taken three minutes away from my response here. I am not surprised that they do not want to hear the good news about how effectively we are running the police force in the Territory. I am not surprised that they do not want to hear the good news that was in the AFP's annual report, which indicates the extent to which the Canberra community is now feeling safer in the streets than they had previously. The Canberra community is very reassured by the strategy we are taking in terms of proactive community policing. We have seen the extension of the pushbike squad in recent years - a dramatic policing initiative which gets police talking to young people.
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