Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 7 Hansard (19 October) . . Page.. 1888 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

local Police Minister, wrote to the various members of the Opposition and the crossbenches in relation to that. He offered AFP personnel to brief them on the proposed model so that he could get their input before he made a decision to approve the model or otherwise. I am certain that, had you people raised any problems that Mr Humphries took on board, they would have been taken on board by Mr Palmer and acted upon. Again my colleague can elaborate.

The local component of the AFP is our local police force. Gary Humphries is the local Police Minister. His role is absolutely crucial. I would be very surprised if any Federal commissioner, or indeed the Federal police Minister, disregarded the opinion of the ACT Police Minister in matters affecting the ACT police. I do not know whether Mr Connolly had any different experience. I suspect that he did not. I suspect that Mr Connolly had a very close working relationship with the national AFP Commissioner and the Federal police Minister and that his views in relation to police matters were taken note of. I think it would be a very brave and maybe a very foolhardy Federal police Minister or Federal police commissioner who would go against the view of the duly elected ACT Police Minister in matters affecting the policing of the Territory. There would be great difficulties too, given our statutory requirement to pass laws affecting the governance of the Territory, including how our police operate, what laws they operate under, what crimes they can arrest people for and commence actions against, et cetera.

Let me indicate just how effectively my colleague acted when several months ago media reports created considerable angst in some members of the police force about what would happen to the drug and fraud squads. What has happened has been most sensible. I have not heard of any great stirrings from people since the announcement. My colleague Mr Humphries had considerable input. Those two squads have become two task forces created under one of the two directors - one for drugs and one for commercial crime such as fraud and other white-collar crime. Those task forces are to be maintained. Members will form teams to investigate specific crimes or deal with specific issues. Members of both of the task forces, both crime and fraud, have considerable expertise in their areas - expertise gained over many years. Because of the very nature of those task forces, it is important that they remain. Their creation is an example of how important it is to have a local Police Minister.

Mr Osborne: We will see that they remain.

MR STEFANIAK: They are there at present, Mr Osborne, and that is a good thing. You can thank my colleague the Police Minister for that. Central Traffic Branch functions have been devolved to police in districts and, except for a core group of motorcycle members, members have been redeployed there. Given that the previous Government cut back the motorcycle squad considerably, it is probably only a core group these days. It is good to see the specialist accident investigations personnel being maintained. That again is a very specialist group with a great deal of expertise. This indicates that local conditions are very important. We need a local Police Minister, and the local Police Minister has certainly been very effective.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .