Page 3297 - Week 11 - Thursday, 11 November 2021
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I look forward to the government’s response. We well know the government does not provide the community with sufficient police personnel. However, at the very least, some sincere effort could be made in having a conversation between the police minister and the chief of police to keep a close eye on this business and for some genuine community policing to get to the bottom of who is harassing, causing damage and committing threats and violence on this business so it can peacefully get on with the job of providing a shop for this community. That is the very least that government must do.
MR HANSON (Murrumbidgee) (10.07): I thank Mrs Jones for making sure that this matter came before us. She has outlined the problem in great detail. I just want to add, as the shadow police minister, that this is where the rubber hits the road. We have very clearly laid out the concerns that we have about the police resources on the ground. We echo the AFPA’s call for more police to bring us up to parody with the rest of Australia. This has been exacerbated by so many police being taken off their normal duties to be put on COVID special duties. A 102-member police task force has meant that a whole bunch of matters that would otherwise have been dealt with are not being dealt with.
There is a human face to this. There is a human face to the lack of police resources and the failure of this government to develop a police station in the Molonglo Valley to deal with that growing population. I thank Mrs Jones for bringing this forward. We will continue to try to get a better deal for the people of Molonglo, not just on the broader nature of more infrastructure but specifically to make sure that the community is safe. We have just heard from Mrs Jones that the shopkeepers there, who are struggling with all sorts of adversity, do not need to be threatened or harassed. This government can respond. It can respond by heeding our calls and those of the AFPA to make sure that our police force is properly resourced and that Molonglo has a dedicated police station.
Motion to take note of petitions
Motion (by MADAM SPEAKER), pursuant to standing order 98A, agreed to:
That the petitions so lodged be noted.
Paper
Mrs Jones, pursuant to the resolution of the Assembly of 7 October 2021, presented the following paper:
COVID-19 pandemic—Social and economic recovery—Notification of Resolution of the ACT Legislative Assembly—Copy of letter to the Prime Minister from the Leader of the Opposition, dated 22 October 2021.
Health services—workplace culture
Ministerial statement
MS STEPHEN-SMITH (Kurrajong—Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Families and Community Services and Minister for
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