CORONAVIRUS —
POLICE — G2G PASS
484. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Minister for Police:
I have a supplementary question.
Given that there are multiple public examples of people who have had their G2G
applications rejected, is this just a case of the minister's laziness
or his willingness to admit that the system might have room for improvement,
and is that the impediment to enhancing our G2G system in Western Australia?
Mr P.
PAPALIA replied:
I am confident that the police are
applying the criteria set by the Chief Health Officer to protect the state of Western Australia against COVID. What I am
concerned about is the constant undermining by the opposition of the defence of
the state against a COVID incursion. That is witnessed by the Leader of the
Opposition's behaviour here today and on other days, and by the shadow
spokesperson for police, who was reported in The West Australian of 3 September
as having questioned what the government's priorities are for the
allocation of officers. Hon Peter
Collier said that the government has
got its priorities wrong in terms of the allocation of officers. We have
increased police numbers by 513 since we took office. He also said that
some 440 of those were assigned to the state's pandemic response
through Operation Tide and that another 100 had been diverted to the meth
border force. That indicates that our priorities for the allocation of police
officers are protecting the state against a pandemic and defending the state
against drug dealers who bring meth into the state, and the opposition
questions that priority. I do not know where the opposition is coming from. I know
that it does not like protecting the state and the border against people like
Clive Palmer. The opposition is on his side and would prefer us to open the
border and drop our fight against meth, by
the look of it. It is extraordinary that the opposition continues to do this,
because when it does, it undermines the police. It is attacking the
police, who are doing a wonderful job defending our state.