Mr STONE - 1999-11-25
The preselected CLP candidate for Port Darwin, Sue Carter, who has a strong commitment to law-and-order issues, has raised with me the question of new police facilities in the Port Darwin electorate. Consistent with the concerns raised by Sue Carter, can the minister tell the House what is planned for the future?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, in keeping with the enormously increased funding that this government has directed towards Police, Fire and Emergency Services over the last few years - a virtual doubling of the budget - improved resources for the police are to continue. Today, through the Commissioner of Police, we will be calling for expressions of interest in the provision of a police station to replace the existing one in the central business district of Darwin. That demonstrates that we are serious not only about providing better workplaces for police officers but also about providing improved services to Territorians.
The Police Commissioner has recommended that an upgraded police station here in the CBD should include cells so that people can be held there in the event that they are taken into custody in the Darwin town area.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: See! You’re not interested, are you? You’re just not interested. It’s a great shame. This is why they don’t know what the truth is. They can’t tell Territorians what the facts are because they don’t listen when they are being provided with information. They don’t read annual reports because they don’t even know they have been tabled and provided to them.
The provision of an improved police station somewhere in the CBD area - it will be within a defined area to be able to best meet the needs of the Darwin Peninsula and environs from a policing point of view - will eliminate one difficulty that is currently experienced. If police take someone into custody in this part of town at the present, they are then virtually out of action while transporting those persons to the Berrimah police complex, putting them through the processes that they have to and then returning to duty here. If that happens 2 or 3 times during a shift, it is a large slice out of a patrol’s time that they could be using patrolling the streets of the CBD and otherwise providing good police services and responding to the community’s needs.
We expect that this initiative will greatly enhance policing in this part of Darwin. That’s very much what the CLP government has been all about, notwithstanding the misrepresentation by the opposition spokesman, who tries to create the impression that there are enormous difficulties with Police, Fire and Emergency Services when in fact we have the best services in the country if you compare them with those that are provided in other jurisdictions. He is just not maintaining the capacity …
Mr Stirling: The fire services are not happy, and you know it.
Mr REED: Well, they’re not happy with you and your trouble-making, I know that. They’re smarter than you are and they’re aware of the misleading comments that you’re putting around. They’ve got an excellent service, just as the police have.
That announcement today will lead to a further enhancement of police services, not only here in the CBD but elsewhere in the Darwin area, to ensure that people of the Territory are serviced and that police officers have good facilities from which to work. They can be assured, again, that the resources that are available to them are the best that we can provide. It’s another demonstration, as I say, of this government’s commitment to providing excellent services to Territorians.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, in keeping with the enormously increased funding that this government has directed towards Police, Fire and Emergency Services over the last few years - a virtual doubling of the budget - improved resources for the police are to continue. Today, through the Commissioner of Police, we will be calling for expressions of interest in the provision of a police station to replace the existing one in the central business district of Darwin. That demonstrates that we are serious not only about providing better workplaces for police officers but also about providing improved services to Territorians.
The Police Commissioner has recommended that an upgraded police station here in the CBD should include cells so that people can be held there in the event that they are taken into custody in the Darwin town area.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: See! You’re not interested, are you? You’re just not interested. It’s a great shame. This is why they don’t know what the truth is. They can’t tell Territorians what the facts are because they don’t listen when they are being provided with information. They don’t read annual reports because they don’t even know they have been tabled and provided to them.
The provision of an improved police station somewhere in the CBD area - it will be within a defined area to be able to best meet the needs of the Darwin Peninsula and environs from a policing point of view - will eliminate one difficulty that is currently experienced. If police take someone into custody in this part of town at the present, they are then virtually out of action while transporting those persons to the Berrimah police complex, putting them through the processes that they have to and then returning to duty here. If that happens 2 or 3 times during a shift, it is a large slice out of a patrol’s time that they could be using patrolling the streets of the CBD and otherwise providing good police services and responding to the community’s needs.
We expect that this initiative will greatly enhance policing in this part of Darwin. That’s very much what the CLP government has been all about, notwithstanding the misrepresentation by the opposition spokesman, who tries to create the impression that there are enormous difficulties with Police, Fire and Emergency Services when in fact we have the best services in the country if you compare them with those that are provided in other jurisdictions. He is just not maintaining the capacity …
Mr Stirling: The fire services are not happy, and you know it.
Mr REED: Well, they’re not happy with you and your trouble-making, I know that. They’re smarter than you are and they’re aware of the misleading comments that you’re putting around. They’ve got an excellent service, just as the police have.
That announcement today will lead to a further enhancement of police services, not only here in the CBD but elsewhere in the Darwin area, to ensure that people of the Territory are serviced and that police officers have good facilities from which to work. They can be assured, again, that the resources that are available to them are the best that we can provide. It’s another demonstration, as I say, of this government’s commitment to providing excellent services to Territorians.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016