Page 5057 - Week 17 - Wednesday, 12 December 1990
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MS FOLLETT: The Australian Federal Police. You must pay attention. I would like to know how many police will be on duty in that area, what will be the cost of the Australian Federal Police work in the Summernats period, and who will be paying that cost. I do not believe that they are unreasonable questions to ask, given the extreme concern that was expressed over the event last year.
I have received any number of letters from residents expressing their grave worry. I have one here that goes through all of the issues that I have discussed and the writer, who is a man of mature years, concludes in his letter, "We are disturbed and frightened". Mr Speaker, as someone who also experienced that event last year, I can understand his feelings. The fact is that the residents were subject to constant harassment, whether by way of noise or by way of offensive behaviour and mess in the streets, and they are not prepared to go through that again. I do not think they ought to. I would call upon the Government to respond to the motion that I am moving today, if it is able to, to reassure us on all of those points.
In particular, Mr Speaker, I think the issue of policing is an important one. Mr Collaery has not yet responded to the issues that were raised on 15 February, but I believe that it is quite clearly a matter where community policing will be put to the test. This is a community issue; the residents of Watson, Downer, Hackett, and, in fact, all along Northbourne Avenue and out to Giralang have expressed grave concern about their welfare and their safety during this period. So, it is a community policing issue. Mr Collaery did undertake to report to us on some aspects of that community policing role. He has not yet done so. So, we have to ask whether the Government has, in fact, done anything in relation to the policing of the Summernats event. If so, what is it, what will it cost, and who will pay for it? I hope that Mr Duby is able to answer those questions.
What does concern me as well is that there does not appear to have been a great deal of community consultation on the part of the Government over this issue. If there has been, I would very much like to hear about it. I know that Mr Duby, in speaking to the matter last time, said that he had had discussions with the Australian Federal Police and with Natex. But the concerns are amongst the people in the suburbs, and I do not think that you can take it that any assurances given by other groups with a particular interest in this function will meet the concerns of the community. I would like to hear from Mr Duby, also, on what consultation he has undertaken, given that I have been trying to consult with Mr Duby for well over a week and have not had the courtesy of an appointment.
Mr Duby: That is not true.
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