Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Ludwig, the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. I refer the minister to an incident that occurred in the wheatbelt town of Northam yesterday in which police officers from Perth were deployed to assist local officers in Northam to bring the fighting under control. I also refer to the fact that the government has stated that it will not be basing Australian Federal Police in Northam to police the new Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre, leaving local police, whose resources are already stretched to capacity, to respond to any emergencies that may arise. Given that Northam is approximately 100 kilometres from Perth, what guarantees can the government give to the people of Northam that their safety will not be compromised in the event that detainees at the detention centre engage in riots similar to those engaged in at other detention centres around Australia and local police do not have the capacity to deal with such a disturbance?