Page 3043 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 23 August 2005
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Let us be serious about this issue for a second. Mr Pratt and his glove puppet, Mrs Burke, would have us reveal to the public and to those people with criminal intent the ways in which they can go about their business.
Let us look back on a bit of precedent here. With respect to the review by AFP professional standards, what happened? Let us go back to 2001, when there was a shooting in Chapman. What happened in the context of that review was that the results of the review and what police were going to do about it were revealed to the community. The actual detail was not. Let us go back to the recent discharge of a firearm in Wanniassa and what happened then. The fact that some police processes were found wanting was addressed and revealed to the community, as was how the problems were to be addressed. They were told. But the detail was not revealed
The privacy of people who have come forward and given evidence was not compromised; the privacy of those police officers was not compromised. Mr Pratt and Mrs Burke—that dynamic duo—would have us compromise the privacy of all concerned. Not going to happen.
Mrs Burke implies that I have received the report. I have not received the report and I have no intention at all of rushing the receipt of that report, because we have encouraged the community to come forward and give extra information against which the police standards review team can do their job. I will not rush that. When it concludes, whatever its findings may lead it to conclude, then we will hear about it. I will quite happily congratulate the police officers and the police force on what they do and what they have done for this town.
Unlike those opposite, I do not search around, burrow around like a ferret on heat, trying to find something wrong with our police force. They have to dig and dig and try to find that little maggot in the hole. No, I have got news for you: the police in this town are pillars in our community. I will not have them badmouthed by this rank bunch of amateurs across the chamber.
I have the utmost faith in the integrity of the professional review team. If, in fact, our processes need to be fixed, they will be fixed. If they do not need to be fixed, I will congratulate the police on their processes. That is the way it has always been and that is the way it always will be.
MRS BURKE: I have a supplementary, Mr Speaker. Minister, further, on ABC radio this morning, you said:
What we do is we talk about the results of it and we are open and transparent about those results.
Will you confirm that, if the coroner asks for this detail you will hand it over?
MR HARGREAVES: Mrs Burke certainly gets her 8c a day worth. She is an avid listener to ABC and an avid contributor to that wonderful program on 2CC. If the chief coroner decides to have a coronial inquest, every piece of evidence he believes is salient
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .