Page 4958 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 26 November 1991
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the union spokesman and has chosen an area such as this on which to propose an amendment on behalf of the police union. Perhaps it will give him some understanding when others speak as spokespersons for any union.
Mr Stefaniak has clearly taken the view of the police union and has, in effect, become a unionist. That in itself is for him a major step forward, but that is the reality of it. I have been a unionist myself for many years - in fact, for my whole working life - and, as Mr Stefaniak puts it, I have been a shop steward. I have been a representative in South Australia of what is called the South Australian Institute of Teachers and a member of the Teachers Federation in the ACT. I am very proud of that and of the role I played in those institutions.
Mr Stefaniak has put forward this extraordinary amendment to a police budget where there has been an absolutely minimal cut. Any reading of Grants Commission reports will indicate quite clearly that the police have been found to be overfunded in report after report.
The proposition Mr Stefaniak is putting in relation to maintenance of law and order is in itself extraordinary from another point of view. Most of the current findings in criminology indicate that extra expenditure on police after reaching a certain level does not reduce crime. The expenditure should go on crime prevention. In the case of the Federal Police, and taking into account what Mr Stefaniak has moved, it is a great credit to the Australian Federal Police that they have moved into crime prevention and have put a great deal of effort into that area. It is an appropriate use of their funding.
When it comes to a minimal cut of $1.2m, it is important that they wear their fair share of the cuts, as is being done right across the ACT budget, in order that we can avoid the problems of the other States in regard to borrowing. It is important that we understand that there was room for these cuts to be made and that they did not necessarily have to come from the areas that were most painful. We remember the extraordinary campaign of the police union and Mr Stefaniak about every single service the police offer being cut. If the police had cut all the things we thought were going to be cut, according to the newspaper, we would have wound up with a single police officer on duty.
It really has been an over-the-top campaign. We can see that, when we have to have the police numbers, they are there. Look at all the police officers who were at Aidex today. I notice that Mr Stefaniak has been proudly wearing his "VIP Aidex Visitor" badge. It is quite right that he should be able to go into a legal exhibition - much as I object to it. It is quite right that he should have that police protection. It is quite right that the police operate where there is violence. I do not object to that.
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