Page 4059 - Week 13 - Thursday, 2 December 2021
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concerned and question the decision. The question was about how the minister will reassure the community, who are concerned, as the AFPA identified. It was a question about the actual decision to go down this route, not necessarily about the specific resourcing.
MADAM SPEAKER: Time has expired.
MR HANSON: Minister, why have you been robbing Peter to pay Paul in relation to police numbers, as the AFPA assert?
MR GENTLEMAN: I just explained very clearly that that is not the case. In fact, we have been increasing resourcing for ACT Policing. They are using that resourcing to increase their numbers where they can due to the opportunities for recruiting across the ACT.
This is an operational matter. The CPO has been very clear on that. He has the clear guidance to be able to use operational resources in the best way that he sees fit for the Canberra community. I support him in those decisions. He has the capability and the expertise to be able to decide where those resources should go. It will not slow the work that they are doing on behalf of the Canberra community. It does show modernisation in how people can report to police, particularly on these trends. Police will still interact the way they have before, attending to the most important jobs where they occur.
MR PARTON: Minister, why do you continue to claim that this is not a resourcing issue when the Chief Police Officer and the AFPA both state categorically that it is a resourcing issue?
MR GENTLEMAN: I disagree with Mr Parton’s statement, Madam Speaker. I do not think they have categorically said that this is a resourcing issue. We have increased resourcing every year. I started to read out those figures earlier. On top of those figures that I read, there is $9.2 million to upgrade ACT Policing facilities; $8.8 million for new initiatives, including funding for enhanced protective security measures; $6.4 million for the expansion of the Taskforce Nemesis organised crime syndicate work; and $2.6 million to equip.
You can see, Madam Speaker, that what I am talking about is the extra resourcing that we have put into ACT Policing. And of course, that is the money that the Canberra Liberals just voted against the other day.
Tuggeranong—SouthFest
MR DAVIS: My question is to the Minister for Business and Better Regulation. In spite of the really difficult year that we have had, I met with the committee organising SouthFest for 2022 last week and was excited to hear that SouthFest reimagined will be taking place in February of 2022—a great opportunity to highlight how good it is to live in Tuggeranong. Can you outline what the government is doing to support SouthFest reimagined in February?
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