CRIME AND ANTISOCIAL
BEHAVIOUR — CARNARVON
643. Ms M. BEARD to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the youth crime crisis
engulfing the Carnarvon community.
(1) Noting the
pressure placed on local police by the ongoing crisis, is the minister working
with the Minister for Child Protection to deliver a safe space for vulnerable
children to go overnight, particularly between 11.00 pm and 7.00 am?
(2) Has the minister considered the viability of the
Carnarvon Police and Community Youth Centre as a venue for such a service
to operate from?
Mr P.
PAPALIA replied:
(1)–(2) I
am not sure that the member for North West Central has posed the question to
the right minister. I am always working with the Minister for Community
Services; Child Protection. We collaborate all the time. Our agencies work
closely together. The department is currently recruiting people to establish
and deliver a full-time Target 120 program in Carnarvon that focuses on
multi-systemic therapy and wraps around the family home of juvenile offenders
at an early stage—it is demonstrated around the world to be the most
effective response to juvenile offending—to divert those who might be
on a pathway towards serious offending at a later age. It brings together
multiple agencies and therapies and a focus on the family home. That being
delivered to Carnarvon is the best possible response to counter offending over
time.
Is
the member saying that policing is not being delivered properly in Carnarvon?
Is that what she is saying? I am the Minister for Police. If that is
what she is saying, I would be very concerned because I am not of that view. I think
that the police are doing an exceptional job right across the state, but
particularly in Carnarvon. I spoke to the President of the Shire of Carnarvon,
Eddie Smith, this morning and sought his view because he is really in touch
with that community. He has been a great advocate for that community his entire
life, particularly in recent times when the member for North West Central's
predecessor was doing such a poor job of
representing the community. Eddie was the one who brought the town together. He
is the one who went out of his way to avoid division. He is the one who always
has been a great advocate for every member of his community and has avoided
disruptive and derisive comments that were engaged in by the member's
predecessor. I asked Eddie this morning whether he had any concerns with
policing in Carnarvon and he said absolutely not. He confirmed that the police
are doing an exceptional job; that is reassuring. That is the portfolio that I hold.
With respect to police and community
youth centre, the member has reminded me that her predecessor opposed the PCYC
expenditure by this government. He criticised the PCYC, including the wonderful
volunteers who ran that operation in Carnarvon. It is an exceptional facility.
But in relation to any of the services that the member is talking about and
whether they should be considered, the member is asking the wrong minister
because that is not my role.