Family and domestic violence—Mobile phone black spots—Regions
45. Mr Shane Love to the Premier:
Before I give the question, I wish to, on behalf of the Nationals WA, express my condolences to the Western Australian Catholic community for the passing of Pope Francis. I share in extending the rest of my party's condolences to members of the Catholic community here in Western Australia.
Premier, I refer to the Western Australian Department of Justice's two-year family and domestic violence GPS tracking trial, Enhancing Family Safety, which notes the requirement to ensure the reliability of GPS tracking by utilising multiple network providers. Can the Premier explain why his government rolled out a program that relies on intensive real-time monitoring without first ensuring that there is sufficient operational capacity to manage it?
Mr Roger Cook replied:
Once again, I commend the member to the comments and statements made by the Attorney General just a short while ago that of course completely debunk the premise of the member's position on this; that is, there is not enough investment. As I said, we have invested $28 million to employ an extra 35 department of corrections officers, with another 12 coming on in July this year through another funding model. As we continue to grow and embed these new laws in the operations of the department of Corrective Services, obviously we can continue to make sure that we keep Western Australians safe. We can keep Western Australians safe—
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Mr Roger Cook: —because we are making the right laws and the right investments. One of the ways we keep Western Australians safe is also through gun law reform. Therefore, when it comes to community safety, I think it is the member opposite who should be fronting the people of Western Australia to explain why he is opposing gun law reform that will make people safe.
Point of order
Mr Lachlan Hunter: I have a point of order about relevance. The Leader of the Nationals asked a very simple question that did not relate to firearms reform, so the answer should be directly relevant to the question.
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members, thank you. I will not uphold that point of order. The reference to community safety in the question allows the Premier to respond in the way he is responding. But he will be getting close to the end of his response! Thank you, Premier.
Questions without notice resumed
Mr Roger Cook: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I will get to the nub of my response, and that is that those opposite, if they are to stand up for community safety, have to stand up for gun law reform.
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Mr Basil Zempilas: The police minister apologised, Premier.
The Speaker: Leader of the Opposition!
Mr Roger Cook: I want—
The Speaker: Premier!
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members, no! I asked the Premier to sit down. He can carry on with silence in the chamber. Thank you. Carry on, Premier.
Mr Roger Cook: I want, most importantly, the Leader of the Opposition to explain to the people of Floreat, where they had a double homicide in their community as a result of issues associated with family and domestic violence, why does he now endorse his own members leading to the disallowance motion of these gun law reforms.
Mr Basil Zempilas: The police minister apologised for that.
The Speaker: Leader of the Opposition!
Mr Roger Cook: I will be lectured by a lot of people when it comes to gun law reform—
The Speaker: Premier! Just wait, Premier.
Mr Basil Zempilas interjected.
The Speaker: Leader of the Opposition, the Premier has the floor. You have already asked a question. If you want to ask another one, it is up to you guys to work out what you want to do, but the Premier is responding. Carry on, Premier.
Mr Roger Cook: This is a question of leadership, and this is a test of the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition. Will he stand with us when it comes to community safety? Will he stand with us when it comes to family and domestic violence? Will he call on Hon Dr Steve Thomas in the upper house to withdraw his motion of disallowance for our gun laws, which everyone knows are about keeping our communities safer and keeping women, particularly, who are victims of family and domestic violence safer.
Mr Basil Zempilas interjected.
The Speaker: Leader of the Opposition! Thank you, Premier.
46. Mr Shane Love to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question. Will the Premier now admit that he commenced the rollout of this program without adequate resources and that he is now making up for it on the run?
Mr Roger Cook replied:
This is what we get from the members on the other side: equivocation, stopping, pushing back and negativity. They do not want progress in this community. They want what they believe in, which is dithering, a lack of action and a lack of conviction. We are keeping people safer in this community by rolling out our nation-leading new laws.
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Mr Roger Cook: We are rolling out our nation-leading new laws when it comes to protecting people in the community. Our electronic monitoring system is keeping hundreds of people monitored 24/7 in a way that they never were before. It is monitored 24/7 by corrections officers who are sitting shoulder to shoulder with police officers who are ready to respond to any breaches in the electronic monitoring arrangements. That is something of which we should all be proud because we know that people are safer today because of the WA Labor government.
