❓ Mr Catania asks the Premier to redirect the $1 million reward offered in the Cleo Smith case to community support in Carnarvon. The Premier acknowledges the community's efforts and highlights existing government investment in Carnarvon's infrastructure and services, rejecting the notion of blaming the community for an individual's actions.
AnsweredQoN 708Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CLEO
SMITH — CARNARVON COMMUNITY
708. Mr V.A. CATANIA to the Premier:
Before I ask the Premier the question, I would like to thank
the Western Australia Police Force for its outstanding achievement in finding Cleo, the community of Carnarvon, the volunteers
who left no stone unturned, and the family and friends of Ellie, Jake,
Isla and Cleo for making their family whole again.
I refer to the $1 million
reward for information, announced on Thursday, 12 October, some 13 days prior
to Cleo Smith's miraculous rescue. Will the Premier consider
redirecting funds to the community of Carnarvon for uses such as counselling services, local security improvements
such as CCTV at remote camp sites, and a positive promotion of Carnarvon
to help the community recover and manage the ongoing impacts from the
disappearance of little Cleo for 18 days?
SMITH — CARNARVON COMMUNITY
708. Mr V.A. CATANIA to the Premier:
Before I ask the Premier the question, I would like to thank
the Western Australia Police Force for its outstanding achievement in finding Cleo, the community of Carnarvon, the volunteers
who left no stone unturned, and the family and friends of Ellie, Jake,
Isla and Cleo for making their family whole again.
I refer to the $1 million
reward for information, announced on Thursday, 12 October, some 13 days prior
to Cleo Smith's miraculous rescue. Will the Premier consider
redirecting funds to the community of Carnarvon for uses such as counselling services, local security improvements
such as CCTV at remote camp sites, and a positive promotion of Carnarvon
to help the community recover and manage the ongoing impacts from the
disappearance of little Cleo for 18 days?
AnswerView source ↗
As I said prior to question time, can I thank all those
people who were involved in finding Cleo; it was a remarkable effort. Obviously, the police did a terrific job,
but so did the public servants who worked with the police, in p articular the analysts who analysed the mobile phone
data. The way they put all the pieces together to find the person who had Cleo in his custody was an incredible effort.
On the night that she was discovered, the information that identified this individual had come to light only earlier that day. Police moved very quickly
with a team to arrest the individual and with a team to rescue Cleo from the
house. It was a remarkably coordinated effort in which lots of pieces of
information came together to allow her to be discovered. What we find about
these things is there are so many leads;
there were hundreds of people who drove past or were in the camp site who could
have been involved, but they narrowed it down to one person, which was
extraordinary.
I would like to thank the
community of Carnarvon for its support and understanding over this period, and
its support of police in particular. I would also like to thank people for
the cohesive way in which the Carnarvon community has acted since Cleo was
discovered and brought back to her family. The good thing about Carnarvon is we
are investing a lot of money in a whole
range of things. A couple of weeks ago, I was there opening the new police and community youth centre in the heart of town, which is a terrific investment. It
is using the relatively new basketball stadium as a PCYC. On top of that, we
invested nearly $20 million in additional health services, in particular in an aged care and palliative care facility, and the
best part of $10 million on the jetty redevelopment. The good thing about this government and Carnarvon is we are investing more in important
community infrastructure that will lift the status of Carnarvon even more, and
that will continue. I just say to everyone out there: a town is not responsible for the actions of an individual; a city is
not responsible for the actions of an individual. If an individual has behaved badly, that is that individual; it is not the town. If anyone seeks to blame a community
or a town, the person who makes that allegation is the one at fault here, not
the town in question.
people who were involved in finding Cleo; it was a remarkable effort. Obviously, the police did a terrific job,
but so did the public servants who worked with the police, in p articular the analysts who analysed the mobile phone
data. The way they put all the pieces together to find the person who had Cleo in his custody was an incredible effort.
On the night that she was discovered, the information that identified this individual had come to light only earlier that day. Police moved very quickly
with a team to arrest the individual and with a team to rescue Cleo from the
house. It was a remarkably coordinated effort in which lots of pieces of
information came together to allow her to be discovered. What we find about
these things is there are so many leads;
there were hundreds of people who drove past or were in the camp site who could
have been involved, but they narrowed it down to one person, which was
extraordinary.
I would like to thank the
community of Carnarvon for its support and understanding over this period, and
its support of police in particular. I would also like to thank people for
the cohesive way in which the Carnarvon community has acted since Cleo was
discovered and brought back to her family. The good thing about Carnarvon is we
are investing a lot of money in a whole
range of things. A couple of weeks ago, I was there opening the new police and community youth centre in the heart of town, which is a terrific investment. It
is using the relatively new basketball stadium as a PCYC. On top of that, we
invested nearly $20 million in additional health services, in particular in an aged care and palliative care facility, and the
best part of $10 million on the jetty redevelopment. The good thing about this government and Carnarvon is we are investing more in important
community infrastructure that will lift the status of Carnarvon even more, and
that will continue. I just say to everyone out there: a town is not responsible for the actions of an individual; a city is
not responsible for the actions of an individual. If an individual has behaved badly, that is that individual; it is not the town. If anyone seeks to blame a community
or a town, the person who makes that allegation is the one at fault here, not
the town in question.
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