❓ Question regarding the resources allocated to the McGowan government's 'meth border force' to combat methamphetamine supply and distribution in WA. The Minister responds by detailing seizures, lab dismantling, equipment investments, and mental health co-response team expansions.
AnsweredQoN 991Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
METH BORDER FORCE
991. Ms M.M. QUIRK to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's long-held commitment to tackle the supply and distribution
of methamphetamine throughout Western Australia. Can the minister update the
house on how this government is ensuring its meth border force has the
resources that it needs to not only tackle WA's meth scourge, but also
respond to crisis situations?
991. Ms M.M. QUIRK to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's long-held commitment to tackle the supply and distribution
of methamphetamine throughout Western Australia. Can the minister update the
house on how this government is ensuring its meth border force has the
resources that it needs to not only tackle WA's meth scourge, but also
respond to crisis situations?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Girrawheen
for her question and for her commitment to community safety. This is clearly an
area she knows a lot about, having been a former legal counsel to the National
Crime Authority here in Perth.
We are addressing the scourge of
methamphetamine in a variety of ways. Chiefly, the police are interested in
interrupting the supply of drugs into our state. In just the last 12 months,
they have seized over 1 400 kilograms of methamphetamine. That amounts to
millions of doses that have not made it onto the streets of Western Australia and
elsewhere. That is a fantastic achievement. As part of those operations, they
have also seized over $11 million in cash. That is a significant cash seizure.
They have also dismantled 18 meth labs in the last 12 months. They are
targeting our transit routes. They are targeting airports, transport hubs and
post offices. They are also targeting the use of the dark web by individuals—young
people—at home in their bedrooms at their computers using the dark web,
people who previously had no history of criminal activity or involvement. That
is very important.
People may have noticed that on the
weekend we unveiled three new pieces of equipment at a cost of over $700 000.
These meth vans are basically Isuzu trucks towing purpose-built caravans, like
a mobile office or unit for police to take out on the road to those drug
transport routes. I note that that expenditure for those vans was spent here in
Western Australia. They were constructed in Western Australia by Western Australian
workers. They are purpose-built to assist the police in these operations. The
three units cost over $700 000. We are not keeping them all in the metropolitan
area.
Several members interjected.
Mrs M.H. ROBERTS : It is
interesting that the National Party thinks it is a joke.
We are basing one of the vans in
Kununurra in the Kimberley and we are basing another in Kalgoorlie in the
goldfields so that officers will have that resource. We will base one in the
metropolitan area that can be taken out to regional parts of our state.
Deploying those fully equipped caravans permanently to Kununurra and Kalgoorlie
will target two of our major transport routes for drugs into our state. They
are not just empty vans. They are equipped with the latest TruNarc devices to
identify drugs, they have night scan lighting towers, fibrescope cameras and
communication equipment. We have on order, and hopefully soon to be received,
some handheld X-ray devices so that police officers will not have to take apart
car doors or seats; they will be able to hold these X-ray devices up to a car
seat or door without having to wreck them to detect whether drugs are inside.
Finally, there is our mental health
co-response team expansion that we announced yesterday. Those teams were
trialled in Cannington and Warwick.
Mrs L.M. Harvey interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Scarborough!
Mrs M.H. ROBERTS : Those teams
recently won a WA Health Excellence Award. I congratulate them on that. Those
teams have been working out exceedingly well, so we are expanding it to another
two teams, one based out of Midland and one based out of Cockburn. It is sad
that the opposition is only negative about this. I saw yesterday that the
opposition had claimed that we were taking officers off frontline duties to
expand the meth border force and our mental health co-response response teams.
I will just say this: there is no more frontline job than being in either the
meth border force or one of those co-response teams. It is about using
frontline officers more effectively.
for her question and for her commitment to community safety. This is clearly an
area she knows a lot about, having been a former legal counsel to the National
Crime Authority here in Perth.
We are addressing the scourge of
methamphetamine in a variety of ways. Chiefly, the police are interested in
interrupting the supply of drugs into our state. In just the last 12 months,
they have seized over 1 400 kilograms of methamphetamine. That amounts to
millions of doses that have not made it onto the streets of Western Australia and
elsewhere. That is a fantastic achievement. As part of those operations, they
have also seized over $11 million in cash. That is a significant cash seizure.
They have also dismantled 18 meth labs in the last 12 months. They are
targeting our transit routes. They are targeting airports, transport hubs and
post offices. They are also targeting the use of the dark web by individuals—young
people—at home in their bedrooms at their computers using the dark web,
people who previously had no history of criminal activity or involvement. That
is very important.
People may have noticed that on the
weekend we unveiled three new pieces of equipment at a cost of over $700 000.
These meth vans are basically Isuzu trucks towing purpose-built caravans, like
a mobile office or unit for police to take out on the road to those drug
transport routes. I note that that expenditure for those vans was spent here in
Western Australia. They were constructed in Western Australia by Western Australian
workers. They are purpose-built to assist the police in these operations. The
three units cost over $700 000. We are not keeping them all in the metropolitan
area.
Several members interjected.
Mrs M.H. ROBERTS : It is
interesting that the National Party thinks it is a joke.
We are basing one of the vans in
Kununurra in the Kimberley and we are basing another in Kalgoorlie in the
goldfields so that officers will have that resource. We will base one in the
metropolitan area that can be taken out to regional parts of our state.
Deploying those fully equipped caravans permanently to Kununurra and Kalgoorlie
will target two of our major transport routes for drugs into our state. They
are not just empty vans. They are equipped with the latest TruNarc devices to
identify drugs, they have night scan lighting towers, fibrescope cameras and
communication equipment. We have on order, and hopefully soon to be received,
some handheld X-ray devices so that police officers will not have to take apart
car doors or seats; they will be able to hold these X-ray devices up to a car
seat or door without having to wreck them to detect whether drugs are inside.
Finally, there is our mental health
co-response team expansion that we announced yesterday. Those teams were
trialled in Cannington and Warwick.
Mrs L.M. Harvey interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Scarborough!
Mrs M.H. ROBERTS : Those teams
recently won a WA Health Excellence Award. I congratulate them on that. Those
teams have been working out exceedingly well, so we are expanding it to another
two teams, one based out of Midland and one based out of Cockburn. It is sad
that the opposition is only negative about this. I saw yesterday that the
opposition had claimed that we were taking officers off frontline duties to
expand the meth border force and our mental health co-response response teams.
I will just say this: there is no more frontline job than being in either the
meth border force or one of those co-response teams. It is about using
frontline officers more effectively.
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