Page 2894 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 15 August 1990
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police services in relation to the ACT. Any change to this would require amendments to these Acts by the Federal Parliament. The Leader of the Opposition suggests we were being dudded. Perhaps the dud started with the Acts.
I should add that day-to-day operational responsibility for the AFP rests with the AFP Commissioner. Nevertheless, the arrangement provides for the following: police services at a fixed resource level and in accordance with specific goals, objectives and priorities as set out in schedules to the arrangement; regular reviews of those schedules following consultation between the ACT and Commonwealth Minister; regular consultation between the ACT Minister and the Chief Police Officer of the ACT on priorities and resource allocations; the ACT Minister can request information and reports from the Chief Police Officer; consultation between the ACT Minister and the AFP Commissioner on the appointment of the Chief Police Officer; the transfer of assets to the ACT; revenue derived from police services to be credited to the ACT; and, finally, agreed financial principles as set out in schedule E to the arrangement, including financial accountability.
The goals and objectives to be pursued by the AFP are: to provide police services to make the ACT a safer, peaceful place in which to work, live and visit; and to provide a high quality responsive police service to the ACT community. The police services will include: protection of persons and property; crime prevention and detection, maintaining peace and good order; enforcement of ACT laws, development and maintenance of community participation in the provision of police services; and, being responsive to community needs in the provision of police services.
The Federal Government has advised that the total cost of police services in the ACT in 1990-91 will be approximately $50m. This includes an amount of approximately $4m for superannuation. The ACT Alliance Government awaits with interest verification of this calculation. It is three years since the Grants Commission last examined police resources in the ACT.
Mr Speaker, AFP resources deployed to ACT policing will be 660 personnel, together with the necessary infrastructure to support those personnel.
The assets to be transferred to the ACT include the four police stations, City, Woden, Belconnen and Tuggeranong, together with the city shopfront adjacent to Garema Place and the Sutton driver training facility. The financial principles provide for a review of the costings of police services and recognise that potential transitional funding may be required. This issue cannot be pursued further at this stage, but will be reviewed in the light of the Grants Commission findings.
As I said earlier, this arrangement provides the ACT with a sound basis for working with the Commonwealth to ensure
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