POLICE — REGIONS
161. Mr V.A. CATANIA to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the desperate efforts by
Western Australia Police Force management to compel officers across the force
to relocate at short notice to regional postings.
(1) Given that the WA Police Force has been forced to
take this press-gang approach to fill regional vacancies, does the
minister now concede that he has failed to provide adequate incentives to
police officers to undertake regional duties?
(2) Does the
minister acknowledge that police officers are being overworked in communities
where crime is out of control, making it hard to attract and retain police
officers in regional Western Australia?
Mr P. PAPALIA replied:
I thank the member for his
question.
(1)–(2) It is disappointing that the member for North West
Central continues down the path of criticising the police and talking
down his community. It is a disappointing thing to observe.
Several members
interjected.
The DEPUTY
SPEAKER: Members!
Mr V.A. Catania interjected.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member!
Mr P. PAPALIA: What I can
confirm is that in 2016, every single policing district in the regions had
fewer FTEs than today—that is the truth. In 2016, the last time the
Nationals WA had an opportunity to do anything about policing, there were fewer FTEs. Goldfields–Esperance had 227;
today it has 240. The great southern had 194; today it has 197. Kimberley had 209; today it has 244.
Midwest–Gascoyne has 278 full-time equivalents today—member, you
would be interested in that figure in particular—and had 250 when his
side was in office. I will not go through the others but every single one has
had an increase in FTEs. The point is that beyond FTEs, the police in Western Australia
have been the beneficiaries of significant increases and support by the McGowan
government. At the moment, we are in the midst of the single biggest increase
in police officer numbers in a four-year period in the history of the state,
with a 15 per cent increase. Nine hundred and fifty additional officers are
being recruited and, of course, they will go
all over the state, as so many of them have. I have met young officers when I have
been at academy graduations and talked to them about where they are
going, and they are voluntarily going to places, including the member for North
West Central's electorate. They are going all over the state
voluntarily.
The
measures that the Commissioner of Police takes to identify further people who
might be encouraged to go into the regions is entirely up to the police
commissioner. What the government is responsible for is providing proper
resourcing to the police, and we have done and continue to do that. That is
undeniable. The extent of additional resourcing to the police over the past
five years has been light years ahead of what it was under your government.
That will continue. We will always support the police and we will not be
criticising their efforts, unlike you.