Ms CARNEY - 2005-12-01
I refer you to an article from the Centralian Advocate in Alice Springs dated 25 November titled ‘Armed gangs crash schoolies’ parties’. According to the article, there have been numerous assaults and even a stabbing. How many people have been charged with offences relating to these incidents? When will these people appear in court? If no one has been charged, what are you going to do about it?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. Any acts of violence in regards to the specific circumstances relating to that particular headline from the newspaper a few days ago are condemned by this parliament and this government. The Leader of the Opposition may not be aware, but an explanation of my responsibilities as minister and the Police Commissioner’s responsibilities for the operations of the police force, is that those investigations will be operational by nature. The Police Commissioner does not brief me on investigations of this particular type, let alone advise me, regarding specific investigations, of how many people have been charged and when they will go to court. Those are, quite rightly and appropriately, operational issues for the Police Commissioner. As Police minister, I do not have responsibility for those things.
What we are doing is giving our police additional resources across the Northern Territory. We are currently two-thirds of the way through recruiting and introducing an extra 200 police to our police force across the Northern Territory to make our Territory a safer place. Currently, we have an extra 137 recruits into the police force, and continue to roll out the recruits in the college at the moment. The specific detail of how many people have been charged and when they go to court are operational issues for the police.
This afternoon, we are going to be introducing legislation to give police the powers to search on school premises, without warrants, any student or any person on school grounds whom the police may believe are carrying an offensive weapon. We continue to give police the legislative tools and additional resources. In regards to specific operational issues, they are quite rightly matters for the Police Commissioner.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. Any acts of violence in regards to the specific circumstances relating to that particular headline from the newspaper a few days ago are condemned by this parliament and this government. The Leader of the Opposition may not be aware, but an explanation of my responsibilities as minister and the Police Commissioner’s responsibilities for the operations of the police force, is that those investigations will be operational by nature. The Police Commissioner does not brief me on investigations of this particular type, let alone advise me, regarding specific investigations, of how many people have been charged and when they will go to court. Those are, quite rightly and appropriately, operational issues for the Police Commissioner. As Police minister, I do not have responsibility for those things.
What we are doing is giving our police additional resources across the Northern Territory. We are currently two-thirds of the way through recruiting and introducing an extra 200 police to our police force across the Northern Territory to make our Territory a safer place. Currently, we have an extra 137 recruits into the police force, and continue to roll out the recruits in the college at the moment. The specific detail of how many people have been charged and when they go to court are operational issues for the police.
This afternoon, we are going to be introducing legislation to give police the powers to search on school premises, without warrants, any student or any person on school grounds whom the police may believe are carrying an offensive weapon. We continue to give police the legislative tools and additional resources. In regards to specific operational issues, they are quite rightly matters for the Police Commissioner.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016