POLICE — RESOURCES
494. Mr P. LILBURNE to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's unprecedented investment in ensuring that our frontline
police have the resources they need to keep Western Australians safe. Can the
minister outline to the house how this investment will support the capability
of our police to respond to both emergency situations and crime in the
community?
Mr P.
PAPALIA replied:
I thank the member for his question
and his support for the Western Australia Police Force, as opposed to some on
the other side of the chamber.
In the last term of office, our
government invested more in resourcing and equipping our police than I think at
any time in a four-year period in the history of the state, with body armour;
body-worn cameras; OneForce, with mobile phones, delivering digital technology
to every single police officer and the ability to access databases and other resources from remote locations; and, of course,
RPAS, the remotely piloted aircraft systems, otherwise known in English
as drones. Every police district has two of those and at least four operators—an
extraordinary increase in capability.
Most
recently, I was very pleased to join the Premier and announce only last week an
additional $27.5 million in the forthcoming budget towards a second new
helicopter. We had already announced late last year, I think, the purchase of
an Airbus H145 aircraft. This is a step change in technology available to the Western
Australia Police Force. That announcement was a huge uplift in capability. What
we currently have is two disparate aircraft. We have difficulties associated
with training, equipping and maintaining. Just changing equipment inside the
aircraft or fit-outs so that we can get different mission types achieved
is a difficult, challenging thing, and it is different for each air frame. What
we have done now is commit to having identical aircraft—state-of-the-art,
absolute cutting-edge technology. We are the
first jurisdiction in the country operating these aircraft, and they will both
be the same. The first one will be delivered late next year and will be
operational by April the year after, and the second one will be operational by
about September that year, as well. By the end of the year after next, we will
have two cutting-edge, state-of-the-art aircraft that can link all of our
technology to police on the ground and provide efficiencies in terms of
response and capability that we have never seen before. I am very proud of the
way the Western Australia Police Force has been supported by the McGowan
government.
The SPEAKER: The Deputy
Leader of the Opposition with the last question.