Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about the No. 1 concern of people in my electorate of Stirling: crime. I know from talking to local families that there is an immense sense of frustration within my community about what people perceive as uncontrolled crime rates. The reality is that it is actually very difficult to get a clear picture of the statistics in relation to crime in my electorate, because the WA state Labor government are very tricky in the way that they publish crime statistics. It is very difficult to get an accurate picture of what is actually happening with crime.

However, there is one thing I can say: there is absolutely no doubt that it is extraordinarily difficult to get a police response when you require one. This is not because the police are not dedicated—they do an extraordinarily good job; it is because they are extremely underresourced, particularly in the west metro police district, which covers my electorate. Police officers are leaving the police force at a greater rate than they can be recruited, and this remains a very serious problem. At any given time in my electorate of Stirling, the police are approximately 20 per cent undermanned. This makes it virtually impossible for these hardworking police officers to do the job they are required to do.

Traditionally, crime is the responsibility of the state government, but I have never found that people are terribly interested in those sorts of distinctions; they expect the federal government to be involved and doing something about this problem. The former coalition government was extremely proactive in fighting crime. It created the highly successful National Community Crime Prevention Program, which funded projects across the country that made a real difference. Sadly, this program was scrapped by Labor in its recent budget. This decision has been a huge loss to my community. In my electorate the National Community Crime Prevention Program funded closed circuit television projects in Mirrabooka, Nollamara and the Corrigin skate park as well as some other successful local initiatives to the tune of more than $480,000.

A shocking pickaxe attack on an ATM user last year at one of my local shopping centres, the Nollamara shopping centre, brought some of this unacceptable behaviour to light. I was very pleased to secure $85,000 for a CCTV system to be implemented in conjunction with the City of Stirling to make the Nollamara shopping centre a safer place and a more profitable location for its business owners—who, quite frankly, have felt as though they have been under siege from local criminal activity. This project is now well underway, with engineering works already begun. The system will be fully operational by the end of this month—that is certainly my hope. The new system will help make the centre safer for elderly families and shop staff as well as make it easier for police to catch criminals. Local residents have told me that they just do not feel safe when they visit that shopping centre. This is because of incidents of crime—often very violent crime—antisocial behaviour, graffiti and hooning. And, of course, there are some very serious incidents, including robberies on local businesses. The CCTV system will allow local police to use footage of crime as evidence in order to identify and catch criminals and vandals. Not only will this ensure that arrests are made but also, hopefully, it will act as a deterrent to people committing crime or engaging in crime in the first place.

Labor have replaced the National Community Crime Prevention Program with what they have termed the safer suburbs program. This program will provide only $15 million of funding over three years. Five million dollars a year to fight crime, I believe, is completely and utterly inadequate. It is a good indication of the way this government operate: they always want to be seen to be doing something as opposed to actually doing something. Five million dollars a year across Australia is just an extraordinarily pitiful amount for what is an extraordinarily serious problem.

I am still determined though that the electorate of Stirling will see some of this money and I have been working in coordination with the City of Stirling on a $1.6 million safer suburbs plan. The proposal is now with the Attorney-General’s Department for approval. This plan includes personal alarms for residents and four extra security officers for patrols to be carried out by the City of Stirling—and this will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

I would very much like to place on record that the $1.6 million safer suburbs plan is going to be extraordinarily worth while for my community. I am confident that it will make a very big difference. I have been campaigning very hard to ensure that this $1.6 million is allocated to my community. In pursuit of this, I will be meeting with the Mayor and the CEO of the City of Stirling in Canberra next week to discuss the details. (Time expired)