❓ Mr Hort questions the effectiveness of electronic monitoring for family and domestic violence offenders, citing apparent inconsistencies in government messaging. The Minister defends the system, highlighting legislative reforms and technological limitations.
AnsweredQoN 59Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Electronic monitoring
59. Mr Adam Hort to
the Minister for Corrective Services:
I have a supplementary question. How can victims of
family and domestic violence have any faith in the electronic monitoring
system when the minister, the Premier and the minister's department are not on
the same page?
59. Mr Adam Hort to
the Minister for Corrective Services:
I have a supplementary question. How can victims of
family and domestic violence have any faith in the electronic monitoring
system when the minister, the Premier and the minister's department are not on
the same page?
AnswerView source ↗
A fundamental fact, member, is that Western Australians are
safer now as a consequence of the legislation that was passed, the Family
Violence Legislation Reform Act. The Attorney General explained yesterday how
the system works. He read into the Parliament a brief ministerial statement that
made it clear how monitoring is done and that, primarily, the first
consideration by the courts is whether or not community safety is afforded in
the event of someone being released. That is the first consideration. Then
things like ankle bracelets or any other conditions are additional conditions
that can be applied to someone, but the first determination is whether it is
safe to release that person on bail. That is the first consideration by the
court. What conditions they apply are determined after that.
Everyone who is on electronic monitoring is monitored 24/7
by the State Operations Command Centre in the fashion that I just explained. In
the event that there is a breach, police respond. That is something that
happens. There is no requirement for a warrant to arrest people who have
breached. Almost $42 million has been provided to the Department of Justice and
the Western Australia Police Force to implement the act. Absolutely, these laws
are the strongest in the nation. The member has to understand and accept that it
relies upon a degree of technology for the ankle bracelets and the electronic
monitoring to be employed. We are one-third of a continent; WA is a vast place.
We know that if we drive out of some towns beyond the range of a mobile phone
tower, we cannot use our telephone. It is not surprising that technology is
constrained as a consequence of what is possible. Over time that may change as
low Earth orbit satellites become more available and things like Starlink
provide full coverage, which they do not yet. But if they do, over time, it may
be possible to have technology afford universal coverage. But the fact is—
Several members
interjected.
The Speaker : Members!
Mr Paul Papalia: The fact is the community is safer as
a consequence of this legislation. Members opposite need to consider what they
are doing by trying to erode confidence in the measures that have been taken to
improve safety. Whose side are they on? What are they trying to do? Are they trying
to erode the confidence of the community in the response that it has been
afforded? The legislation is the toughest in the country, and the community is
safer as a consequence of this law.
Visitors
The Speaker : Just
before I give the member for Landsdale the call, I would like to also welcome
and acknowledge, up in the gallery at the top, the former, former member for
Jandakot, Joe Francis. Welcome. It is great to see you here.
safer now as a consequence of the legislation that was passed, the Family
Violence Legislation Reform Act. The Attorney General explained yesterday how
the system works. He read into the Parliament a brief ministerial statement that
made it clear how monitoring is done and that, primarily, the first
consideration by the courts is whether or not community safety is afforded in
the event of someone being released. That is the first consideration. Then
things like ankle bracelets or any other conditions are additional conditions
that can be applied to someone, but the first determination is whether it is
safe to release that person on bail. That is the first consideration by the
court. What conditions they apply are determined after that.
Everyone who is on electronic monitoring is monitored 24/7
by the State Operations Command Centre in the fashion that I just explained. In
the event that there is a breach, police respond. That is something that
happens. There is no requirement for a warrant to arrest people who have
breached. Almost $42 million has been provided to the Department of Justice and
the Western Australia Police Force to implement the act. Absolutely, these laws
are the strongest in the nation. The member has to understand and accept that it
relies upon a degree of technology for the ankle bracelets and the electronic
monitoring to be employed. We are one-third of a continent; WA is a vast place.
We know that if we drive out of some towns beyond the range of a mobile phone
tower, we cannot use our telephone. It is not surprising that technology is
constrained as a consequence of what is possible. Over time that may change as
low Earth orbit satellites become more available and things like Starlink
provide full coverage, which they do not yet. But if they do, over time, it may
be possible to have technology afford universal coverage. But the fact is—
Several members
interjected.
The Speaker : Members!
Mr Paul Papalia: The fact is the community is safer as
a consequence of this legislation. Members opposite need to consider what they
are doing by trying to erode confidence in the measures that have been taken to
improve safety. Whose side are they on? What are they trying to do? Are they trying
to erode the confidence of the community in the response that it has been
afforded? The legislation is the toughest in the country, and the community is
safer as a consequence of this law.
Visitors
The Speaker : Just
before I give the member for Landsdale the call, I would like to also welcome
and acknowledge, up in the gallery at the top, the former, former member for
Jandakot, Joe Francis. Welcome. It is great to see you here.
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.