❓ WA Parliamentary Question reveals 65 traffic warden vacancies in the metropolitan area, with 49 school crossings unmanned. The government is actively recruiting and prioritising high-risk school crossings.
AnsweredQoN 110Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the Government website which currently states: “We are currently seeking traffic wardens across the entire metropolitan area.”, and I ask : (a) How many traffic warden positions in the metropolitan area are currently vacant; (b) What is the average time taken to recruit and deploy a new traffic warden from the point of application; (c) How many school crossings in the metropolitan area are currently unmanned due to a lack of traffic wardens: (i) Please provide a breakdown by school; (d) What public advertising or recruitment campaigns have been run in the past two years to address the shortfall of traffic wardens and how much was spent on these campaigns; and (e) Is there a strategy in place to prioritise the filling of vacancies at school crossings deemed to pose a higher safety risk?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
24 June 2025
Responded by
Minister for Police
Response time
8 days
(a) 65.
(b) 8 to 10 weeks.
(c) 49. Please refer to Tabled Paper 1.
(d) The Western Australia Police Force continues to run an active recruitment campaign to address traffic warden shortages. Advertising has been conducted through mainstream and social media, including television, radio, newspapers, stakeholder newsletters (Western Australian Council of State School Organisations, Catholic Education WA), advocacy groups (Active Travel to School Working Group, Bicycle Riders Resource Group, WA Road Safety Education Committee) and directly to schools with vacant crossings for dissemination on their school community social media pages. As at 4 June 2025, $36,689 has been spent on newspaper advertising for 2024-25.
(e) Yes. Vacancies are prioritised and filled based on the assessed risk level. Crossings that service primary schools, are dual lane or experience high volumes of traffic are given precedence. Each crossing is assessed using a risk matrix score and vacancies are filled according to both the assessed risk and the availability of traffic wardens. When assigning traffic wardens, consideration is also given to the proximity of the warden applicant’s residence to the vacant crossing.
(b) 8 to 10 weeks.
(c) 49. Please refer to Tabled Paper 1.
(d) The Western Australia Police Force continues to run an active recruitment campaign to address traffic warden shortages. Advertising has been conducted through mainstream and social media, including television, radio, newspapers, stakeholder newsletters (Western Australian Council of State School Organisations, Catholic Education WA), advocacy groups (Active Travel to School Working Group, Bicycle Riders Resource Group, WA Road Safety Education Committee) and directly to schools with vacant crossings for dissemination on their school community social media pages. As at 4 June 2025, $36,689 has been spent on newspaper advertising for 2024-25.
(e) Yes. Vacancies are prioritised and filled based on the assessed risk level. Crossings that service primary schools, are dual lane or experience high volumes of traffic are given precedence. Each crossing is assessed using a risk matrix score and vacancies are filled according to both the assessed risk and the availability of traffic wardens. When assigning traffic wardens, consideration is also given to the proximity of the warden applicant’s residence to the vacant crossing.
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.