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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 6 Hansard (3 September) . . Page.. 1919 ..

Mr Quinlan: We do not need it in the Weston Creek area.

MR HUMPHRIES: You do not need it in Weston Creek. Around my street, Mr Quinlan, that is sometimes not the case.

Mr Corbell: Do they not drive slower in Weston? Was that not the finding?

MR HUMPHRIES: What was that?

Mr Corbell: Weston residents drive slower than everyone else.

MR HUMPHRIES: Weston residents drive slowly? I will take your word for that.

Mr Corbell: It was reported in the paper: It must be true.

MR HUMPHRIES: Some of us certainly do, I think, Mr Quinlan. (Extension of time granted)

I note the comments made by Mr Stanhope on legal aid, the Ayers report and the need for an ACT prison. I would broadly agree with all the things that he said on those issues. I hope that we can move on all those areas with a degree of bipartisanship. I also think Mr Rugendyke was quite right to identify the fundamental difficulty of our relationship with the Federal Government as a key problem in policing in the ACT. It is a critical problem, it does need to be addressed, and I think that probably in the area of policing the highest priority of the Government for the next three years will be to define a better way of delivering services to the people of the ACT.

If that is ultimately achieved by breaking with the Australian Federal Police and establishing an ACT police force, I say again today - as I have said on a number of occasions in the past - that is an option we will certainly explore. I hope members of this place will, through the Justice and Community Safety Committee, or in some other way, take part in that debate because it is a very important threshold question this community needs to face. I hope we will be able to elect for the right decision when the appropriate time comes.

MS TUCKER (4.44): Having listened to this debate, a couple of things have become clear. As I have listened to this topic being discussed over the last few years, a couple of issues kept coming up. They were probably raised before I became a member of the Assembly. I know this particular Assembly, more so than previous Assemblies, is interested in a law and order response to issues of unrest in our society. This Assembly has supported a number of initiatives that previously have not been supported. It is of concern to me that we see a response from this area only. We do not see an appropriate response from the other departments and areas which should be working just as hard to address these issues of unrest in our society.

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