Page 3589 - Week 11 - Thursday, 22 September 2005
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Temporary Deputy Speaker, our focus and our priority in the ACT is community policing and community safety.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella—Leader of the Opposition) (4.46): I would like the police minister to cast his mind back to 3 September 1998 when, oddly enough, we were having a debate about policing. The minister, a member for Tuggeranong, said that the number of police that we have on the beat is insufficient. Let me say that again. On 3 September 1998 the minister thought that the number of police that we have on the beat is insufficient.
How many police did we have on duty when Mr Hargreaves, the minister, made that statement? How many sworn officers did we have in 1998? In 1998, seven years ago, how many police officers could the people of the ACT rely on? The answer is 612 sworn officers. So you can imagine all of our surprise, at estimates this year, after the supposed extra $26 million that this government has put into policing, at the number of extra police officers that we got.
Was it 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 or 100? No. There was a reduction. At estimates this year the minister’s cover was blown. We finally managed to get an answer out of his officials, not from the minister, who ducked and weaved and twisted and turned and spun every number, except the real one, the one that counted. That number is 583 officers. In 1998, seven years ago, there were 612. Now there are 583, a reduction of 29 officers. In percentage terms, there has been a 4.7 per cent, more or less five per cent reduction in the number of police officers on the street under the man who wanted more cops. Mr Hargreaves went on to say that some of the trouble that he was talking about could have been prevented and certainly could have been addressed had we had a couple more police in Tuggeranong.
Did we get a couple more coppers for Tuggeranong? No, we did not. We got a reduction of 29 officers, a five per cent reduction in the number of sworn police officers available to protect the ACT. This is the constant theme of this government, and the Chief Minister fell into the trap as well. They say, “We are spending more. It must be better.” We are spending more, but what do we get—less.
In the hospital system we are spending more and getting less. In the judiciary we are spending more and getting less. In the AFP service we are spending more and getting less. This is the point that Mr Pratt has been making. The pressure that this puts on our officers—
Mr Hargreaves: Take advice from people who are not reading.
Mr Pratt: Read the community feedback, John.
MADAM TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Resume your seat, Mr Smyth. Mr Hargreaves and Mr Pratt, Mr Smyth has the floor.
MR SMYTH: The problem here is that the minister believes his own rhetoric. We have consistently defended the police officers. We recognise the additional stress and pressure this five per cent reduction in their number puts them under. That is the problem. The system has become more complicated because of the laws that this government is
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