Page 2616 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 June 2005
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numbers would provide for two new patrols; one for the north district from July 2007 and one for the south district from July 2008.
There will be an additional 20 officers brought on line as a result of the 2004-05 budget. However, the provision of 20 new police officers at a cost of $2.2 million, provided by the government to make up two extra patrols that will not come into effect for two to three years, is in fact an insult to the needs of the community. The minister said in his press release of 3 May that the overall increase of 40 additional police would occur between 2004-05 and 2008-09. This is just too far short of the mark. This will not even cater for the loss of manpower, given this government’s lack of retention policies. This is an absolute abrogation of this government’s responsibility to the ACT community when we need at least 100 to 120 officers now to bring the ACT into line with the national average and to ensure that we have enough police on the front line.
When the Stanhope government campaigned for government in 2001 it stated in its election promise that it would increase police numbers in line with the national average. The Stanhope government has fallen well below the mark on this count. In fact, we have fallen so far below the mark that we now have the lowest number of sworn police officers in four years, as Mr Seselja pointed out. I will not go into the detail of that but the bottom line is that sworn, effective police numbers have actually fallen in four years and not increased, as continually claimed by the government.
I take this opportunity to welcome the government’s expenditure of a total of $7.83 million on capital works for the new Woden police station. I look forward to seeing this police station operational, as it has been a long time coming. However, I do wonder where we will get the police to man the station in its new increased capacity. Let us face it: we have had too many incidents where police stations have had to close, or have been unable to respond to callouts, due to a severe lack of manpower. The new Woden police station will, of course, have a larger capacity than the present station but where we will get the police from to man it is a matter of concern.
My office receives complaints on a regular basis from constituents who have been told by police, when they have reported crimes in progress, that there are either no police or no cars available for police to attend the incident. Members of the community are constantly telling me that we do not have enough police to respond to callouts. That signals to me that there is a serious problem, despite the police minister’s claims that I am simply scaremongering, to quote the minister himself and as Mr Seselja pointed out. The minister also claims that the ACT now has an intelligence-based policing model and that therefore people should simply ring police to report incidents so the police can gather intelligence. Intelligence-based policing, in the truest sense of that definition, means a community policing presence where there is a relationship between the police and the community to gather intelligence on a face-to-face basis. If the police do not have the manpower to attend an incident, then of course we do not have a preventative policing capability in place.
It was apparent to all who heard the police portfolio session in estimates that the police minister and the chair of the committee caused blatant and significant interference to the questioning process, a process that is meant to allow for the scrutiny and accountability of the government to the community to be upheld. The chair in any parliament is
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