Page 932 - Week 04 - Thursday, 3 May 2007
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Territory. I also indicated at that meeting that the government would expand its network of security cameras. That is a project which continues.
There is no doubt that there have been a couple of serious incidents. I do not know the detail of those. Mr Hargreaves, as the minister, would have been able to assist you with more detail than I can on the precise nature and outcomes in terms of precipitation of the review of the incidents and the extent to which there are issues which need to be addressed. I take this issue particularly seriously. There is an important need for us to ensure that the security cameras which we have ordered and which are in the process of being installed—at this stage I understand that something in the order of 20 per cent of our bus fleet has had security cameras installed—are installed. Over the next few months the entire fleet will have a security camera on board.
We are also expanding our network of security cameras. There is, however, some urgency about the need to ensure that the working places of our ACTION staff—not just the drivers but supervisors and others—are secure and that we have done everything we can to ensure that those workplaces are as safe as possible. It is completely and utterly unacceptable that any person—not just ACTION staff or public employees but every Canberran—does not have a right to security and safety and to feel secure and safe. We should not discriminate as to when.
The fact that we have employees now exposed to the incidents and the injuries that have been experienced in recent times by a number of our ACTION staff is reprehensible and totally unacceptable. The government will do all that it possibly can to ensure that the working places of our staff are as safe as they have a right to expect them to be.
MR PRATT: I correct for the record that the knife attack was at the Woden interchange, not the Civic interchange. Chief Minister, is it not true that the CCTV cameras are essentially focused on buses as a bus management tool rather than for surveillance and safety of the shelters and the offices? Why has your government failed to acknowledge the concerns brought to you by the TWU? When will the recommendations of the review into safety and security for ACTION employees be implemented? Will you table the review thus far?
MR STANHOPE: The security cameras were installed and are being installed in ACTION buses. The decision that was taken to install the security cameras was entirely for the purpose of seeking to ensure the security—
Mr Pratt: Inside the bus?
Mrs Dunne: Or the ones at the interchanges?
MR STANHOPE: I will answer the question. I understood from the question that you were suggesting that the security cameras that were installed on the buses were not there—
Mr Pratt: No.
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