Page 3257 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 23 August 2017
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You have to be very careful in the response. There have been some extra amounts provided for specific cases, but in general terms the amount provided to the DPP, as he has said on page 158 of the estimates report, is manifestly inadequate.
One simple issue that was canvassed at question time was the extra resources being provided to the police for Taskforce Nemesis to deal with outlaw motorcycle gangs. I think that is good; although I think we are missing anti-consorting laws, do not misinterpret that as not supporting additional resources for police for that important issue. We certainly do. But whilst the police are getting extra resources, I imagine that will bring additional prosecutions before the courts, and there are no more resources for the DPP. We are only resourcing one part of the equation there, not the other, which is the DPP, which has to bring matters into the courts.
As noted by the DPP, “as presently resourced, we will not be able to fully meet the capacity”. That is a damaging quote. He further noted:
We find great difficulty attracting people with our current structure. … I have to say that we do have difficulty attracting people appropriately qualified at high levels.
That is damaging stuff, and it is a matter of resources and priorities for this government, not just within JACS but within the whole of government. It is quite clear, when this sort of case is being put forward by the DPP, that the priorities of this government are wrong.
This is not something that has just emerged overnight. Go back to the estimates reports and the annual reports of the past three or four years, and you will see the same pleas from the DPP over and over again. I urge the government to rethink their priorities and to give the DPP the resources they need to keep the level of expertise in the office.
Part of the reason for all of this inadequate funding that the DPP has identified is that he is unable to make his own budget submissions, to make his own case. We went to this point in question time but I will make it again. I quote from his annual report:
One of the problems is that although the Office is fiercely independent in relation to its decision making, all financial matters are filtered through the JACS directorate. Unfortunately, the directorate has been singularly unsuccessful in representing the interests of the Office in budgetary discussions and this had led to the current resourcing crisis.
It is clear that the DPP, on the one hand, are being told, “You’re independent”, while, on the other hand, they are being told, “You can’t argue for your money independently, you’ve got to do that through the JACS Directorate.” I think the DPP is right in identifying that that is a problem. I note that the committee, with a Green member and two Labor members, also acknowledged this problem and recommended that that be addressed by the government.
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