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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2527 ..

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I accept the criticism which Mr Wood has referred to. It is clear that on occasions the police do not adequately address the concerns or the problems that the ACT community encounters. Sometimes that is a matter of perception about the level of service provided, but sometimes it is genuinely a matter of the police not being able to get there fast enough or not having the resources available at the time in the right place to be able to deal with those problems. That is why the ACT Government resolved in the budget delivered in May to increase the number of police on the streets of Canberra by approximately 18. We indicated in the budget that that would not happen until the beginning of next year. We intend to stick to that promise. We made that promise and we will stick to that promise.

Mr Speaker, as I say, I accept that there are occasions when the police do not have the resources available to deal with those matters and that is why we are firm in our view that there should be additional resources delivered in that area. I might say that that is only in one sense rectifying what amounts to three consecutive years of reductions in the police budget which were sustained during the former Government's life.

MR HIRD: Mr Speaker, I know that those opposite are particularly interested in jobs, particularly in the area of technology.

Ms McRae: Yes, yours, Harold. We want one more for yours.

MR HIRD: Ms McRae, of course, would be interested in technology and jobs.

MR SPEAKER: Mr Hird, are you making a statement or asking a question?

MR HIRD: Mr Speaker, yes. It is musical chairs over there. Blow the whistle and it is this week's leader. Things chop and change. That is how things are. My question, sir, is to Mrs Carnell in her capacity as Minister for Business and Employment. I refer to a recent announcement that the Government has agreed to help a leading Canberra advanced technology company known as CEA Technologies to expand its operations here in the Territory. Can the Minister outline why the Government has decided to get behind this company? What benefits will its expansion bring to the Territory and the region?

MRS CARNELL: Thank you very much, Mr Hird, for the question. I would be upset if those opposite are not interested in this; but I imagine they will not be, as usual. Mr Speaker, this Government has recognised, right from the first day we came to office, that one of Canberra's strengths lay in establishing ourselves as a centre for the development of new advanced technology. We have worked hard in the past 21/2 years to foster the growth of that industry, along with the high technology and environmental technology industries, because they form an integral part of our long-term strategy to encourage greater diversification of our economic and business space.

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