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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 634 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 20 October 2021 by Mr V.A. Catania

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

POLICE — EXMOUTH AND CORAL BAY

634. Mr V.A. CATANIA to the Minister for Police:

I have a supplementary question. When can the community expect additional resources to deal with the influx of tourists that is infiltrating places like Exmouth and the Ningaloo coast?

Several members interjected.

The SPEAKER: Order, please, members. Order, please! Member, you have asked one question; that is what you are permitted as your supplementary.

Mr P. PAPALIA replied:

The member's question reminds me of his strident advocacy to roadblock Exmouth last year. He demanded the government block the roads to Exmouth last year. I remember very clearly the strident advocacy from the member opposite on behalf of the community. He wanted a wall to wall out everybody from Perth. Now, clearly that is not a priority for the member.

What I can say, member, is that the Commissioner of Police—for whom I have great admiration and respect and I believe is doing a wonderful job on behalf of state—is responsible for the allocation of resources that we provide. The state government is providing more resources to police than ever before in the history of this state and well in excess of anything provided when the member was in government. Over the last four years or so, it has been more than $1 billion in excess of what was allocated to police when the member was last in government. We are in the process of recruiting more police officers over a four-year period than at any time in history. It commenced last year with 350 officers above attrition and 200 above attrition every single year now and in the next three financial years. Of course, when those officers graduate from the Western Australian Police Academy, as they do on an incredibly regular basis—I am attending graduations almost monthly—they are allocated to sites as required by the police commissioner. The police commissioner determines where the requirements for police officers are and where the resources will be allocated. It is our responsibility, which we are more than fulfilling, to provide the police commissioner with every resource that he requires. Undeniably, police are better resourced, supported and staffed, and getting more recruits than at any time before and certainly far in excess of the former Liberal–National government's inadequate performance.