Ms CARNEY - 2008-02-19
In November last year, in relation to the dry town in Alice Springs, the member for Stuart said:
Alice Springs residents want more police; the police want more police. I refer you to the comments made by the local commander in the Alice Springs News last week. He said: ‘If I had another 300 police I could use them’. Even one of your local members wants more police in Alice Springs. Why will you not change your position in response to our call, made repeatedly, for at least 20 to 30 extra police in Alice Springs so that, in particular, the dry town does not become a complete failure?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member of Araluen for her question. There are more police in Alice Springs than there ever have been. There are certainly significantly more police in Alice Springs than when the opposition was in office. The Alice Springs News provides an interesting read. I can say to the people of Alice Springs that, interestingly, regarding accuracy, I will let the community debate that.
If you ask any police officer if they could do with additional resources, and every police officer - right across Australia, right across the world - would say: ‘Yes, we could do with some more’. You ask any Education department whether they could with more teachers, and they would say: ‘Yes, if we had 300 more teachers we could use them’. If you ask any general manager of any hospital if they could do with more doctors, more nurses, of course, they would say: ‘Yes, if we had more doctors, more nurses, we could use them’.
I am not saying that the situation is perfect. What I am saying is there are significantly more police in our police force - 200 more – than when the CLP were in government. Since this government has been in office, we have been running three to four recruit squads every year, unlike the CLP, which did not run one recruit squad. We will continue to invest in our police. We will continue to see numbers grow across the Northern Territory. We will continue to give them the resources, laws and public policy arena to work within, to do a very difficult job that they have to do right across this great Territory of ours.
On the issue of crime and antisocial behaviour, the opposition is absolutely bereft of any policy. The only solution is more police. They had an opportunity to deliver more police when they were in government. What they did was gut and decimate this police force, and it is one that we had to rebuild.
- We can have a Dry Town, but people will always find ways around it and that is what we are finding. We need to support the police. I have talked to quite a number of police officers. They are struggling with the Dry Town legislation. It has shifted the problem.
Alice Springs residents want more police; the police want more police. I refer you to the comments made by the local commander in the Alice Springs News last week. He said: ‘If I had another 300 police I could use them’. Even one of your local members wants more police in Alice Springs. Why will you not change your position in response to our call, made repeatedly, for at least 20 to 30 extra police in Alice Springs so that, in particular, the dry town does not become a complete failure?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member of Araluen for her question. There are more police in Alice Springs than there ever have been. There are certainly significantly more police in Alice Springs than when the opposition was in office. The Alice Springs News provides an interesting read. I can say to the people of Alice Springs that, interestingly, regarding accuracy, I will let the community debate that.
If you ask any police officer if they could do with additional resources, and every police officer - right across Australia, right across the world - would say: ‘Yes, we could do with some more’. You ask any Education department whether they could with more teachers, and they would say: ‘Yes, if we had 300 more teachers we could use them’. If you ask any general manager of any hospital if they could do with more doctors, more nurses, of course, they would say: ‘Yes, if we had more doctors, more nurses, we could use them’.
I am not saying that the situation is perfect. What I am saying is there are significantly more police in our police force - 200 more – than when the CLP were in government. Since this government has been in office, we have been running three to four recruit squads every year, unlike the CLP, which did not run one recruit squad. We will continue to invest in our police. We will continue to see numbers grow across the Northern Territory. We will continue to give them the resources, laws and public policy arena to work within, to do a very difficult job that they have to do right across this great Territory of ours.
On the issue of crime and antisocial behaviour, the opposition is absolutely bereft of any policy. The only solution is more police. They had an opportunity to deliver more police when they were in government. What they did was gut and decimate this police force, and it is one that we had to rebuild.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016