❓ Mrs. Harvey questions the government's performance on law and order, prompting the Premier to detail implemented reforms and initiatives, contrasting them with the previous government's record. The Premier defends the government's actions and highlights improvements in crime statistics.
AnsweredQoN 807Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
LAW AND ORDER
807. Mrs L.M. HARVEY to the Premier:
The
Premier must admit that his government is failing to meet the community's
expectations on a range of law and order issues. Given this, what actions will
the government be immediately undertaking to rectify this unacceptable
situation?
807. Mrs L.M. HARVEY to the Premier:
The
Premier must admit that his government is failing to meet the community's
expectations on a range of law and order issues. Given this, what actions will
the government be immediately undertaking to rectify this unacceptable
situation?
AnswerView source ↗
That was a very broad question. The
great thing is that, under this government, we have put in place the meth
border force. For the first time, a dedicated group of police officers is
dealing with the issue of methamphetamine in Western Australia, and it has had
some considerable success. We have put in a whole bunch of law reforms, such as
the no body, no parole reform and ''Charlotte's Law''. We
have introduced laws to toughen up the arrangements for dangerous sex offenders—the
regime is far tougher than the one that was formerly in place. I recall the
Attorney General saying when we were in opposition that the then Liberal–National
government would not toughen up the dangerous sex offender laws. Under us, the
dangerous sex offender laws have been toughened. We have put in place the
opportunity, for the first time ever, for life sentences to be given to meth
traffickers. The last Liberal–National government refused to deal with
that issue. We have reformed the law in relation to domestic violence. For the
first time in Western Australia, we have a government that is taking domestic
violence seriously. We have increased the police budget quite significantly. We
have a great commissioner in Commissioner Dawson, who is tackling many issues
across Western Australia. Western Australians can have great faith in the fact
that Commissioner Dawson is dealing with those issues. We put in place some
support for police officers that they were missing before, such as the redress
scheme. We have reformed section 8, so that when police officers leave the
police force, they do not do so with some sort of unfortunate record. We have
ensured that if they want to be medically retired, they are not regarded as
having been forced out by some unfortunate means. Another member mentioned body
cameras for police officers. When they draw their weapon, the body camera automatically
comes on and those sorts of incidents are recorded. I think there is further
recording in place for police officers to deal with those things. The list goes
on. If ministers want to volunteer more —
Mr B.S. Wyatt : The police
helicopter.
Mr M. McGOWAN : Of course—the
police helicopter, which we funded. From memory, it was $26 million in funding
for the police helicopter. The police minister would know that further reforms
are coming to deal with some longstanding issues. Last week, we changed the
measuring technique used to determine blood alcohol content, so that it is more
accurate and so that people cannot get away with some things they did in the
past when the level of alcohol in their system was measured. This government is
putting in place reform after reform after reform to deal with these things. Of
course, we got rid of what the Leader of the Opposition had in place—I
think it was called the Frontline 2020 regime. That was quite a misnomer; it
actually resulted in fewer police on the front line than ever before. What we
saw under the Leader of the Opposition when she was police minister was a rapid climb in the number of offences committed
across Western Australia—in fact, it was the greatest climb in the
number of offences committed across Western Australia that anyone had
ever seen. Month in, month out, the statistics showed huge increases in crime
across Western Australia. Of course, under our new commissioner, we have got
rid of that failed system of the Liberals and Nationals and we have seen a reduction
in the level of offending in Western Australia
as a consequence. If the Leader of the Opposition wants to ask me more broad
questions, please do.
great thing is that, under this government, we have put in place the meth
border force. For the first time, a dedicated group of police officers is
dealing with the issue of methamphetamine in Western Australia, and it has had
some considerable success. We have put in a whole bunch of law reforms, such as
the no body, no parole reform and ''Charlotte's Law''. We
have introduced laws to toughen up the arrangements for dangerous sex offenders—the
regime is far tougher than the one that was formerly in place. I recall the
Attorney General saying when we were in opposition that the then Liberal–National
government would not toughen up the dangerous sex offender laws. Under us, the
dangerous sex offender laws have been toughened. We have put in place the
opportunity, for the first time ever, for life sentences to be given to meth
traffickers. The last Liberal–National government refused to deal with
that issue. We have reformed the law in relation to domestic violence. For the
first time in Western Australia, we have a government that is taking domestic
violence seriously. We have increased the police budget quite significantly. We
have a great commissioner in Commissioner Dawson, who is tackling many issues
across Western Australia. Western Australians can have great faith in the fact
that Commissioner Dawson is dealing with those issues. We put in place some
support for police officers that they were missing before, such as the redress
scheme. We have reformed section 8, so that when police officers leave the
police force, they do not do so with some sort of unfortunate record. We have
ensured that if they want to be medically retired, they are not regarded as
having been forced out by some unfortunate means. Another member mentioned body
cameras for police officers. When they draw their weapon, the body camera automatically
comes on and those sorts of incidents are recorded. I think there is further
recording in place for police officers to deal with those things. The list goes
on. If ministers want to volunteer more —
Mr B.S. Wyatt : The police
helicopter.
Mr M. McGOWAN : Of course—the
police helicopter, which we funded. From memory, it was $26 million in funding
for the police helicopter. The police minister would know that further reforms
are coming to deal with some longstanding issues. Last week, we changed the
measuring technique used to determine blood alcohol content, so that it is more
accurate and so that people cannot get away with some things they did in the
past when the level of alcohol in their system was measured. This government is
putting in place reform after reform after reform to deal with these things. Of
course, we got rid of what the Leader of the Opposition had in place—I
think it was called the Frontline 2020 regime. That was quite a misnomer; it
actually resulted in fewer police on the front line than ever before. What we
saw under the Leader of the Opposition when she was police minister was a rapid climb in the number of offences committed
across Western Australia—in fact, it was the greatest climb in the
number of offences committed across Western Australia that anyone had
ever seen. Month in, month out, the statistics showed huge increases in crime
across Western Australia. Of course, under our new commissioner, we have got
rid of that failed system of the Liberals and Nationals and we have seen a reduction
in the level of offending in Western Australia
as a consequence. If the Leader of the Opposition wants to ask me more broad
questions, please do.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.