Electronic monitoring
50. Mrs Kirrilee Warr to the Minister for Police:
I am not sure I can match the theatricals of the former member in the chamber here today!
The Speaker: No-one can!
Mrs Kirrilee Warr: I refer to recent media reports, including by the ABC this week, revealing that the Cook Labor government's promise to deliver GPS monitoring for serial family and domestic violence offenders is under-resourced and failing in parts of regional WA.
(1) Given the Premier claims that he was unaware of these resource shortfalls, is the minister aware of any concerns raised by Western Australia Police Force or the Western Australian Police Union regarding the GPS monitoring program?
(2) What immediate steps has the minister taken to ensure that victim-survivors of family and domestic violence in regional communities such as Geraldton and the Mid West are properly protected?
Mr Reece Whitby replied:
(1)–(2) I thank the member for Geraldton for the question. She will have heard now three times in this place the response from the Attorney General and the Premier I think on two occasions.
I do not have carriage for the monitoring of these devices, but I can talk about the relevance to police operations. I think the Premier mentioned the State Operations Command Centre. I urge anyone who is interested to have a look at that operations centre. I think we are going to get the member for Kalamunda in there to have a look. I understand that members opposite are coming up to speed with their responsibilities, but an inspection of the State Operations Command Centre will properly inform them of the enormous investment that the Cook Labor government has made into technology and fighting crime in Western Australia. It is simply amazing. We have one of the best—no, I think the best police force in Australia. It is constantly being visited by police forces from around the world, in fact, who look at the technology and the way it is employed.
Point of order
Mr Lachlan Hunter: Point of order on relevance.
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members, points of order are heard in silence.
Mr Lachlan Hunter: The member for Geraldton asked a very specific question about regional Western Australia, not offers of tours and political advertising from the minister. I ask that you direct him back to the question.
The Speaker: Thank you, member. I will not uphold that point of order. The minister is responding to the question and he can carry on doing that. Carry on, minister.
Questions without notice resumed
Mr Reece Whitby: Where does the member think this monitoring across the state is happening? It is monitoring the regions as well.
I will get on to some issues about Geraldton, because I am very keen to do so.
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
The Speaker: Member for Central Wheatbelt!
Mr Reece Whitby: The member for Geraldton raised issues about Geraldton, and I want to talk about some of the big responses that the police have made via the Western Australian Government's resourcing of our friends, the police. There have been additional resources deployed for crime files clearance operations in Geraldton, which recently resulted in 429 investigations being completed and 130 charges preferred. Geraldton police have obtained additional funding from Operation Heat Shield, which allows additional police patrols to actively target and investigate the incidence of volume crimes. There are target-hardening programs encouraging people to lock their doors and put their things away to reduce the incidence of crime. Operation Regional Shield involves extra resources that maintain high-visibility police patrols to deter vehicle theft and even covertly monitored a decoy vehicle in the Geraldton area to capture people who might want to commit vehicle offences. Operation Shop Watch involves cooperation and intelligence sharing between local police and shop owners. In the past, there has been a reluctance to report, and was even company policy by some of the big supermarket retailers to not report incidents of theft. We have got past that and are encouraging retailers to talk to police and get involved. We are seeing positive results. There are challenges in Geraldton as there are challenges across Western Australia. We are seeing big, positive results in Geraldton and an enormous effort in police response to crime in Geraldton.
I just want to mention the On Track to Thrive program. The Department of Justice and a range of government agencies are spending $7.8 million on a pilot program, launched in Geraldton, the west Gascoyne and Armadale, which will come into effect on 1 July this year and run through 2027. It will focus on redirecting young juvenile offenders away from a life of crime. We know about the Target 120 program, which is having good results.
The Speaker is not going to allow me to read everything on this page, but I can assure the member that this government is doing more than any other government in terms of investing in our police force, and we are seeing positive outcomes. The other thing I will say is that if the member is concerned about crime—
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: If you could start to wrap up, minister, that would be great, thanks.
Mr Reece Whitby: If the member is concerned about crime and domestic and family violence, the Leader of the Nationals WA should withdraw his disallowance motion against our new gun laws, because that legislation will do more to keep people in Western Australia safe than any other thing we can do.
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
51. Mrs Kirrilee Warr to the Minister for Police:
I have a supplementary question.
I know the minister mentioned that he did not feel he had carriage of this issue, but what has the Commissioner of Police advised him on the state of electronic monitoring in regional WA?
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Mr Paul Papalia interjected.
The Speaker: Minister for Corrective Services! The question was about the police commissioner. The minister can answer how he wants to respond to the question, but the question was about police.
Dr Tony Buti interjected.
The Speaker: No; sit down, Attorney General. I give the call to the Minister for Police.
Mr Reece Whitby replied:
Thank you, Speaker. Member, the commissioner is aware that this government has invested half a billion dollars in combating family and domestic violence. The commissioner is aware that we have also invested $14 million for his agency, the police, to introduce the monitoring of tracking devices, including 35 staff across all government and another 12 commencing in July. If the member were to go into the State Operations Command Centre, she would know that these devices are monitored 24/7, and the minute there is a violation, the minute someone tries to go to an exclusion zone or tries to remove the device, police respond. They do not need a warrant; they can pick up that person and get them back into custody. That is what they are doing.
