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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 633 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 9 September 2020 by Mr P.A. Katsambanis

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

CORONAVIRUS — POLICE RESOURCES

633. Mr P.A. KATSAMBANIS to the Premier:

Can the Premier confirm that the number of frontline police officers tackling the COVID situation has or is likely to be increased beyond the current 400 police officers who have been announced, further exacerbating the lack of frontline police trying to tackle violent crime in Western Australia?

Mr M. McGOWAN replied:

No, I cannot confirm that. Operational decisions about where and how police are deployed are made by the Commissioner of Police. My view is that the police have been doing a very good job, and this year I have been very grateful for the service they have provided.

I want to say to the member that dealing with COVID is a big deal and it takes a lot of effort by government. We have been very fortunate in Western Australia that the measures we have taken, the resources we have deployed and the way that the public sector has responded have been absolutely fantastic. I would like to thank all the people across the public sector for what they have done. As I said to the member yesterday, the police—I have met them—have been out in Eucla at the border, in Kununurra at the border and on the roads in between. They have been at the airport to deal with people coming in. Often people are unhappy. They have been in our hotels and they have been contact tracing. They have been deployed in numerous ways. They have been checking on people who are quarantining at home et cetera. It is an important task. I urge the Liberal Party not to try to politicise this. Have members seen what has happened and what is going on in Victoria? I would have thought that they would be saying to us that it has been an appropriate deployment of government resources and police officers to deal with an extraordinary situation that the state is facing.