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.