Page 2900 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 15 August 1990
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what led to this. As the Chief Minister said and as Mr Connolly agreed and as the Attorney-General has said, cost is a very significant factor. The cost of setting up our own police force again from scratch would be many times greater than this arrangement. What this arrangement means is that the ACT is getting the Canberra component of the Australian Federal Police to continue policing the Territory on contract. Most of the officers have a detailed knowledge of Canberra. Many were born and bred here. So, we very much do have our own police force in that regard.
The AFP was formed after a fairly traumatic amalgamation between the old ACT police force and the Commonwealth police force back in October 1979. It probably took about five years to overcome the problems there. I was well aware of those problems because I started as a prosecutor about three months before the amalgamation. After about 1984-85 it had settled down well; the AFP had ironed out the bugs and the local component was very happy in its new role. When the Liberal Party looked at its law and order policy in 1988 it indulged in quite a lot of community consultation because part of its law and order policy was to support this very type of arrangement.
The vast majority of the men and women of the Australian Federal Police force are very keen to see an arrangement such as this because they realise the traumas and problems there were in the past initially with the AFP amalgamation. Now this has all been settled. This is the most sensible arrangement all round financially in terms of conditions of service and work by the members who have to police the Territory. Certainly, it is the most cost-effective and efficient arrangement for the citizens of the ACT so that our police can continue the very fine service they provide to our citizens.
MR JENSEN (3.35): Mr Speaker, I wish to make a couple of brief comments on some of the points made by Mr Moore. However, before I do that I would like to acknowledge the bipartisan manner in which the shadow Attorney-General, Mr Connolly, has welcomed the agreement that has been signed. I look forward to seeing it go into place in the future.
I note that Mr Moore made some comments about the lack of community consultation in relation to this issue of community policing. I am fully aware that prior to the departure of Mr Colin Winchester to Canada to look at this proposal over in Canada he made arrangements to speak to community groups about this very issue. It was unfortunate that his untimely death meant that an arrangement which had been made for Mr Winchester to talk to the community in the area in which I live was cut short. However, his replacement, Mr Colin Bates, who is the Chief Police Officer of the ACT, fulfilled that arrangement that had previously been made.
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