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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (4 November) . . Page.. 3539 ..
MR WOOD: My question is to the Minister for Police. Minister, as the AFP looks for 54 extra police for Federal duties, will you assure Canberrans that the ACT will maintain its full complement of officers; that we will not again be short-changed; importantly, that we will maintain the current level of expertise; and that we will not lose experienced officers?
MR HUMPHRIES: I thank Mr Wood for that question. To the extent that I can offer an assurance that the ACT will not be short-changed, I will. Bearing in mind that technically I do not actually have control over the movements of Federal officers between the ACT and national functions of the AFP, I cannot be watertight in giving such a guarantee. I certainly can indicate to Mr Wood and the house that the Government has made it extremely clear to the Federal Police that our contract for 694 officers is deadly serious and that we want those officers to be there serving the ACT community 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I view the additional 54 officers at the Commonwealth level as an opportunity for the ACT to satisfy that requirement, rather than as a threat to that arrangement. There will be more Federal Police officers as a result of that decision. Those officers will obviously be drawn from a number of areas; but they will not come from the ACT, at least in terms of the effect on the net numbers of ACT officers. If any are drawn from the ACT Region they will have to be replaced. I am confident that the Australian Federal Police understand the ACT Government's position well enough to react appropriately if any officers are drawn from the ACT Region.
As far as experience is concerned, you asked about the experience of people being taken away. Obviously, some who are taken from the ACT Region may have valuable experience which may be considered by some to be worth retaining here. Again, we expect to have, and we insist on having, fully trained officers. Obviously, the variety of experience that they bring to their job will depend on the sort of job they do and where they have been before. So, it is difficult to answer that second half of the question, but I am confident that we will retain a reasonable and appropriate level of skills in the Federal Police that serve this Territory.
MR WOOD: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Minister, you used the word "contract", although it appears we have an agreement with the AFP.
Mr Humphries: It is the same thing.
MR WOOD: It was Mr Collaery and the Alliance Government that signed that, I understand. Does that agreement specify the various levels of experience that are to be provided to us in our policing? Can you exercise some control in that way?
MR HUMPHRIES: No; I do not think it does specify the number or the level of experience of officers. With respect, I think it would be very hard to do that. As I have indicated before, there is an appropriate balance in any police force. There should be some officers who are, frankly, freshly recruited. I do not want the force to consist entirely of people who have had 10 or more years' experience, because some of them will obviously have different outlooks to those who emerge from educational institutions or from other backgrounds that might enrich the AFP's operations. I do not know that we
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