❓ Ms. Kent asks about attracting and retaining police officers in regional WA. The Minister responds by highlighting investment in accommodation at the Police Academy for regional recruits to ease the burden of relocating for training.
AnsweredQoN 156Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Police—Authorised strength
156 . Ms Ali Kent to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the Cook
Labor government's ongoing commitment to strengthening Western Australia's
world-class police force.
(1) Can the minister please inform the house how
this government is working to attract and retain new police officers,
particularly in regional communities?
(2) Can the minister advise the house what these
measures will mean for people looking to join the WA Police Force?
156 . Ms Ali Kent to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the Cook
Labor government's ongoing commitment to strengthening Western Australia's
world-class police force.
(1) Can the minister please inform the house how
this government is working to attract and retain new police officers,
particularly in regional communities?
(2) Can the minister advise the house what these
measures will mean for people looking to join the WA Police Force?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I thank the member for Kalgoorlie
for the question. This is great news that we can all celebrate together in the
chamber, because we in the Cook government appreciate and respect our police
and understand the work they do in the metropolitan area and, indeed, right
across Western Australia. One of the great joys that I have had as the new
Minister for Police is to visit regional areas across Western Australia; I always
call into the police station and talk to the to the men and women in blue—the
blue family—who keep Western Australia safe.
One of the things we want to do
as a government is to make it easier for people in regional communities across
Western Australia to join the police force. We know we have an academy at full
tilt, turning out record numbers of police officers. We have never had more
police on the beat in Western Australia, but we want to ensure that more of
those police officers are actually members of regional communities, because we
know that people in the regions have a passion for their communities and they
also aspire, many of them, to serve those communities in blue, and protect
those communities and keep them safe.
In order to assist them in doing
this, the member for Kalgoorlie, the member for Joondalup, the Premier and I were
at the Western Australia Police Academy in Joondalup yesterday, where we
announced our commitment to spend almost $16 million on increasing and
upgrading accommodation units to modern code. This is a building of about 20-plus
years, so we need to get it up to safe standards for habitation. Those units
will be available exclusively for members of the community from the regions, usually
young men and women, who want to join the police force. At the moment, when
they come to Perth, they are faced with the prospect of finding rental
accommodation or staying with family and friends. This will make it easier. It will
lift a burden from people in regional communities who want to sign up and do recruit
training. We want to welcome them, so we have invested this money and will have
that facility available for new recruits from right across Western Australia,
to even the playing field between regional recruits and their metropolitan
counterparts to have a student experience in which they can be together and
share their challenges and journey into graduating as members of the WA Police Force.
Member for Kalgoorlie, I look
forward to people applying from Kalgoorlie and the Goldfields region, because
when they become police officers and probationary constables, there is the
option for them to go back into the communities from which they came, in the
districts and the police districts, and to serve those communities. They will have
that local knowledge and local connection that will make them even better
police officers. This is a magnificent policy of this government and a
magnificent election commitment being delivered and rolled out. It will benefit
all regions of Western Australia and it will benefit the state as a whole.
The Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition with the
last question.
for the question. This is great news that we can all celebrate together in the
chamber, because we in the Cook government appreciate and respect our police
and understand the work they do in the metropolitan area and, indeed, right
across Western Australia. One of the great joys that I have had as the new
Minister for Police is to visit regional areas across Western Australia; I always
call into the police station and talk to the to the men and women in blue—the
blue family—who keep Western Australia safe.
One of the things we want to do
as a government is to make it easier for people in regional communities across
Western Australia to join the police force. We know we have an academy at full
tilt, turning out record numbers of police officers. We have never had more
police on the beat in Western Australia, but we want to ensure that more of
those police officers are actually members of regional communities, because we
know that people in the regions have a passion for their communities and they
also aspire, many of them, to serve those communities in blue, and protect
those communities and keep them safe.
In order to assist them in doing
this, the member for Kalgoorlie, the member for Joondalup, the Premier and I were
at the Western Australia Police Academy in Joondalup yesterday, where we
announced our commitment to spend almost $16 million on increasing and
upgrading accommodation units to modern code. This is a building of about 20-plus
years, so we need to get it up to safe standards for habitation. Those units
will be available exclusively for members of the community from the regions, usually
young men and women, who want to join the police force. At the moment, when
they come to Perth, they are faced with the prospect of finding rental
accommodation or staying with family and friends. This will make it easier. It will
lift a burden from people in regional communities who want to sign up and do recruit
training. We want to welcome them, so we have invested this money and will have
that facility available for new recruits from right across Western Australia,
to even the playing field between regional recruits and their metropolitan
counterparts to have a student experience in which they can be together and
share their challenges and journey into graduating as members of the WA Police Force.
Member for Kalgoorlie, I look
forward to people applying from Kalgoorlie and the Goldfields region, because
when they become police officers and probationary constables, there is the
option for them to go back into the communities from which they came, in the
districts and the police districts, and to serve those communities. They will have
that local knowledge and local connection that will make them even better
police officers. This is a magnificent policy of this government and a
magnificent election commitment being delivered and rolled out. It will benefit
all regions of Western Australia and it will benefit the state as a whole.
The Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition with the
last question.
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