❓ Mrs. Roberts questions the Minister for Police about the escalating issue of out-of-control parties and police response. The Minister assures that adequate resources are available and being deployed, including dog and horse squads.
AnsweredQoN 146Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
WEEKEND PARTIES — POLICE RESPONSE
146. Mrs M.H. ROBERTS to the Minister for Police:
Given that police are now responding to six or more
out-of-control parties each weekend and that the party problem has escalated
out of control under the minister's watch, I ask —
(1) What has been put in place for this weekend to deal with
the issue?
(2) Does the
minister have any commitment at all from the Commissioner of Police that
additional officers will be rostered on this Friday or Saturday night?
(3) What comfort
can the minister give families living in the suburbs that their safety will not
be compromised on this or coming weekends?
146. Mrs M.H. ROBERTS to the Minister for Police:
Given that police are now responding to six or more
out-of-control parties each weekend and that the party problem has escalated
out of control under the minister's watch, I ask —
(1) What has been put in place for this weekend to deal with
the issue?
(2) Does the
minister have any commitment at all from the Commissioner of Police that
additional officers will be rostered on this Friday or Saturday night?
(3) What comfort
can the minister give families living in the suburbs that their safety will not
be compromised on this or coming weekends?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
(1)–(3) The member wants an
assurance that this weekend police will have the resources —
Mrs
M.H. Roberts : What have you put in place and have you got a commitment from
the commissioner?
Mr
R.F. JOHNSON : There is an ongoing commitment from the Commissioner of
Police that he will deal with his resources. He stated to me quite clearly that
he had the resources last weekend. The resources were there to cover each and
every one of those out-of-control parties and the gatecrashers who caused all
the problems. That was not a problem. He has now brought in the dog squad and
the horses, and they do wonders. I have had ongoing discussions with the
commissioner for some —
Mrs
M.H. Roberts : So there's nothing—no improvement—for
this weekend, is there?
Mr
R.F. JOHNSON : I have had ongoing discussions with the commissioner about
the problems of gatecrashing and these sorts of parties. Lots of things are
involved in this. There is the social media aspect. People are setting up fake
Facebook pages and advertising these parties maliciously, perhaps without the
knowledge of the host, to encourage people to come along. A lot of parties
people have in the suburbs are quite genuine parties; they are family parties
and they cause no problem at all. But, obviously, some parties do, particularly
if the parents are away and young people invite some of their friends over.
Word gets out, false Facebook messages are sent out, text messages are sent out
all over the place and 100 or 200 young people—young hooligans, girls
and boys—end up turning up. There is no sex discrimination here; both
gender of hooligans turn up, very often after preloading on alcohol. We have to
wonder what their parents are doing, given that these young people are 15 and
16 years old, and sometimes younger, allowing their children out at that time
of night and preloading —
Mrs
M.H. Roberts : What are you doing?
Mr
R.F. JOHNSON : I am not preloading; I can assure the member I do not
preload!
Several members interjected.
Mr
R.F. JOHNSON : This is a very serious subject and it is one that —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members!
Mr
R.F. JOHNSON : It is a subject on which the commissioner and I are at one. I
would like to see more dogs and more horses out there dealing with the
gatecrashers who are the biggest problem. Certainly, if there is any need to
look at tweaking legislation, we may have to do that. But I can assure the
member and the house that there are enough resources. The commissioner has
given me an absolute assurance that the resources are there; we are over
authorised strength. We want some more dogs and more horses, but at the moment
we are dealing with those problems and the police are doing a fantastic job.
The police are responding very quickly. Whereas about a year or so ago there
was only one regional operations group that had to operate north and south of
the river, there are now two groups and they have expanded in numbers.
Therefore, we have more resources inasmuch as there are more police officers
ready to respond to these actions, together with the dog squad and the horse
squad. I would say that we have never had as many resources as are now
available to deal with this sort of riotous behaviour. That is what it is:
riotous behaviour.
Mrs
M.H. Roberts : Why is the police union saying the police are stretched and
there's not enough people on?
Mr
R.F. JOHNSON : If the member wants, she can ask a supplementary question; I
am sure she will.
I am confident that the commissioner
and our police officers will do a fantastic job in trying to deal with those
thugs—as I say, they are both male and female—who cause
disruption and damage and who even attack and assault our own police officers.
We will deal with them, no matter what age they are.
(1)–(3) The member wants an
assurance that this weekend police will have the resources —
Mrs
M.H. Roberts : What have you put in place and have you got a commitment from
the commissioner?
Mr
R.F. JOHNSON : There is an ongoing commitment from the Commissioner of
Police that he will deal with his resources. He stated to me quite clearly that
he had the resources last weekend. The resources were there to cover each and
every one of those out-of-control parties and the gatecrashers who caused all
the problems. That was not a problem. He has now brought in the dog squad and
the horses, and they do wonders. I have had ongoing discussions with the
commissioner for some —
Mrs
M.H. Roberts : So there's nothing—no improvement—for
this weekend, is there?
Mr
R.F. JOHNSON : I have had ongoing discussions with the commissioner about
the problems of gatecrashing and these sorts of parties. Lots of things are
involved in this. There is the social media aspect. People are setting up fake
Facebook pages and advertising these parties maliciously, perhaps without the
knowledge of the host, to encourage people to come along. A lot of parties
people have in the suburbs are quite genuine parties; they are family parties
and they cause no problem at all. But, obviously, some parties do, particularly
if the parents are away and young people invite some of their friends over.
Word gets out, false Facebook messages are sent out, text messages are sent out
all over the place and 100 or 200 young people—young hooligans, girls
and boys—end up turning up. There is no sex discrimination here; both
gender of hooligans turn up, very often after preloading on alcohol. We have to
wonder what their parents are doing, given that these young people are 15 and
16 years old, and sometimes younger, allowing their children out at that time
of night and preloading —
Mrs
M.H. Roberts : What are you doing?
Mr
R.F. JOHNSON : I am not preloading; I can assure the member I do not
preload!
Several members interjected.
Mr
R.F. JOHNSON : This is a very serious subject and it is one that —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members!
Mr
R.F. JOHNSON : It is a subject on which the commissioner and I are at one. I
would like to see more dogs and more horses out there dealing with the
gatecrashers who are the biggest problem. Certainly, if there is any need to
look at tweaking legislation, we may have to do that. But I can assure the
member and the house that there are enough resources. The commissioner has
given me an absolute assurance that the resources are there; we are over
authorised strength. We want some more dogs and more horses, but at the moment
we are dealing with those problems and the police are doing a fantastic job.
The police are responding very quickly. Whereas about a year or so ago there
was only one regional operations group that had to operate north and south of
the river, there are now two groups and they have expanded in numbers.
Therefore, we have more resources inasmuch as there are more police officers
ready to respond to these actions, together with the dog squad and the horse
squad. I would say that we have never had as many resources as are now
available to deal with this sort of riotous behaviour. That is what it is:
riotous behaviour.
Mrs
M.H. Roberts : Why is the police union saying the police are stretched and
there's not enough people on?
Mr
R.F. JOHNSON : If the member wants, she can ask a supplementary question; I
am sure she will.
I am confident that the commissioner
and our police officers will do a fantastic job in trying to deal with those
thugs—as I say, they are both male and female—who cause
disruption and damage and who even attack and assault our own police officers.
We will deal with them, no matter what age they are.
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.