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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Thursday, 24 June 2004) . . Page.. 2653 ..

Let me go on with the over-exaggerated further nonsense about police horses. Mr Pratt said that they were great to be seen on the streets. The problem, when I became minister, was that they were not seen on the streets. You could go out to a paddock at Hall and have a look at them. Do you know why they were not seen on the streets? Because it was a very inefficient method of handling crime.

Mr Quinlan: They used to go to fetes, and the kiddies loved them.

MR WOOD: I agree that it was good police promotion; there is no question about that. But it takes a lot of time to get the horses ready.

Mr Pratt: They used to patrol the car parks at Bruce Stadium very effectively.

MR WOOD: That is great. There was one incident at Bruce Stadium and it has become the headlight on what is happening. I saw the figures on what was required to get those horses up and out. It took hours and hours to get them on the road for a little time and then hours to get them back into the float, back to Hall and wiped down—they are all the things that they do—whereas if you have a car, you can walk out, put the key in the ignition, maybe go and get some petrol, and you are on the road. In fact, the police horses were very inefficient for the local policing role. They were good for ceremonial occasions and good for public relations, no doubt. It might not be widely known but they can still be used for ceremonial occasions or for publicity.

Mr Quinlan: One of them is scared of people! One of them is a bit shy!

MR WOOD: I did not know that, Mr Quinlan. As I came into office it seemed to me a strange thing to have horses standing in a paddock. In fact—you may know by now that the horses are still there—I have an agreement with AFP national that the horses can be used for ceremonial purposes, for publicity or for other purposes at the expense of AFP national. I think that is quite a good result. I do not think there is anything much to worry about on that.

I want to come back to the study that is to be undertaken. An arrangement was made at the time Mr Humphries was police minister. That comes up for renewal, scrapping or whatever in March next year. I think it has worked well; I do not have any issue about that. I have said publicly, like Mr Pratt, that we have a very good police force. He does not want to criticise the police, so he is in a difficult situation in trying to get some mileage. That arrangement has worked quite well. At the same time, while we come up to a renewal of that arrangement—I emphasise the word “arrangement”; it is not a straight contract—it would be a good idea to look back into what we might sign up to in the next four to five-year period. There is to be a study looking at police resources and looking at the way police are managed.

You will recall that the auditor had some comments to make about the management by JACS of the police arrangement. We did not altogether agree with the lines taken by the auditor, but it is further encouragement to have a look at that arrangement, and that is what we will do. I expect that study will be reporting by December this year. When we sign up to a new arrangement we will get to see whether it is to be expressed in different terms, whether it can be said in ways that might serve us and ACT Policing better.

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