Bruce Baird (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to bring to the attention of the House the release this week of the report of the New South Wales Police on the Cronulla riots and subsequent reprisal attacks of December last year. The release of the report has been widely reported in the media—not so much for its content but for the denial of its existence by the New South Wales Minister for Police and his continued attempts to change his story. In the fallout from Mr Scully’s sacking from the ministry it is easy to forget the real issue at hand—that is, the chronic underresourcing of New South Wales Police by the New South Wales government.

The report tells us that Morris Iemma and Carl Scully were briefed on the Thursday three days before the riots. The briefing advised them that racially motivated violence was almost certain, with a risk rating of ‘high’. It also classified the likelihood of large-scale affray and riot as ‘likely’, with the consequences of that being ‘major’. There is no doubt that Morris Iemma and Carl Scully were clearly advised that a major disturbance would take place at Cronulla Beach on Sunday, 11 December. Yet the next day Iemma and Scully held a press conference at Cronulla reassuring local residents that their beach would be safe from violence over the weekend. It is disgraceful that the New South Wales Premier and Minister for Police would assure people of their safety only one day after being warned that a large-scale affray and riot was ‘likely’.

The New South Wales government clearly learned no lessons from Macquarie Fields. The underresourcing of the police, despite clear warnings of the events at Cronulla, was so rife that protective equipment was not available to all first-response police. The report says, ‘When requests were made for protective equipment, there was an expected lengthy delay in its delivery because of the situation that existed in other areas.’ Regardless of the situation in other areas, the bottom line is that the New South Wales government cannot even provide protective equipment to all members of its first-response police. The report further stated that there was evidence of injuries to police who responded to potentially volatile situations without protective equipment.

Despite the warnings, despite the fact that it was almost certain that racially motivated violence would occur, only 47 police were posted at Cronulla on the day. Late on the evening of Sunday, 11 December, the highway patrols cars manning Tom Ugly’s Bridge, Captain Cook Bridge and Alfords Point Bridge were taken off the bridges and called into Brighton-le-Sands to deal with the fallout there. This allowed convoys of cars to enter Cronulla and engage in revenge attacks. Again, despite the magnitude of the riots that day, the area continued to be inadequately manned throughout the night.

I have said time and time again that the Cronulla Police Station has been slowly bled of resources by the Carr-Iemma government. It has gone from a fully fledged, book-and-charge station to nothing more than a shopfront. This has allowed a total lack of action on bullying, intimidation and antisocial behaviour at the beach. Over time, this has been allowed to escalate into what we witnessed in December last year. The Labor government’s failure to adequately resource New South Wales Police has sorely affected my local community. They have allowed the closure of police stations all over the state, and the downsizing of many just like in Cronulla. They have been unable to respond to crises with enough officers on the ground and they cannot even provide enough equipment for the safety of their own riot police.

This report highlights the courage of individual police officers in the face of extremely dangerous conditions. Those officers who put their own physical safety at risk to save victims from mobs of rioters are worthy of the strongest praise. The report says that the lack of serious or fatal injuries to victims can be attributed to the actions of the individual police who appeared to have no regard for their own safety. Their bravery undoubtedly saved lives, and I would like to commend them for their selfless service to the public of New South Wales.

The bravery and the meritorious service of the police on this day and the days following are not in question. On the other hand, the New South Wales government has abjectly failed the community in allowing police resources to dwindle. It learned nothing from Macquarie Fields, it showed no regard for the warnings of the police three days before the riots and it allowed this to happen by completely ignoring the needs of the Cronulla area for many years. Both I and the state member for Cronulla have warned publicly on many occasions that we were inadequately policed. Often there are only 15 police at the station in Cronulla to deal with the very large community that comes to the beach on a regular basis on the weekends. It is totally inadequate, and it is not surprising that we saw this result. It is time that the Iemma government learned the lessons of the past and provided the necessary policing resources in the state of New South Wales.