Page 192 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 9 February 2022
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there saying, “Is just politics; they are politicising it. No, you have got enough members. You have got enough.” The Labor Party are saying they have got enough. The Greens seem to think they have got too many. The Greens want fewer police, it would seem, from their position.
Let me quote the AFPA. Let me quote what their union is saying here. “They are stressed; they are tired. Policing is a dangerous profession and the last thing we need as an extra element of danger is the fatigue factor.” As I said, the members are the last people who would put their hand up and say, “I am feeling fatigued or stressed,” because they are so professional and they do want to serve the community and get the job done. Hear, hear! They are professional; they do want to get the job done. I support their association; I support what they are saying. The words that you have said in this place, Dr Paterson and Mr Gentleman, are a direct attack on the AFPA and, through them, the police on the frontline who are saying how stressed they are.
I have not met police out there who, when I chat to them, say, “You know what, Mr Hanson? There are too many of us. Mr Braddock is right. That is why we have got crime in this town. There are too many of us. We want fewer police, because we are not stressed at all. We are not putting in any overtime. We are not stressed because of COVID and the fires and the protesters from out of town. We do not worry about the lowest clearance rates in Australia.” Of course they do. They are frustrated and they are tired. If you listen to the AFPA, comrades, what they say is, “Our members are burnt out and we are concerned about the welfare of our members.” They are.
Mick Gentleman is not. Dr Paterson is not. Mr Braddock is not. The AFPA is and we are. “Our members are burnt out. We are concerned about the welfare of our members.” What is the response from this lot? They say, “It is just politics. There are enough police.” Mr Braddock says there are too many police. That is their position.
“Our members are tired, worn out and getting sick of having to do too much overtime just to make sure that there are enough officers on duty.” That is what their union is saying; that is what their association is saying. But, no, that is just politics, is it not? You just dismiss that as politics. How disgusting! If the Liberal Party came in here and said something like that about workers you would be, rightly, offended. You would be, rightly, putting out press releases; you would be demanding a retraction. But you are quite happy to come and say that about the police association and about the police.
“Listen to the experts.” We always hear that, don’t we, Mr Deputy Speaker? Listen to the experts. Is the Chief Police Officer an expert? I would say he is an expert. We are agreeing? Resources are tight. What we find is that we are going to be more efficient but we will be less responsive. Under this government, because resources are tight, he said, “We will be less responsive to some of the property crime than we have been in the past.” That is what the Chief Police Officer is saying. You have got the union saying, “We do not have enough on the ground to do our job and we are burnt out, we are stressed and we are fatigued.” You have got the Chief Police Officer saying, “Resources are tight and we are going to be less responsive.”
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