Police Service Reform

Ms MEGARRITY: My question without notice is directed to the Premier. What are the Government’s plans for continuing to reform the Police Service?

Mr CARR: Under Commissioner Ryan’s leadership policing in New South Wales is truly being transformed.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I place the honourable member for Myall Lakes on two calls to order.

Mr CARR: We are building on the advantage of the work of the royal commission, supported by the Government, by the Labor Party and by the non-aligned Independents, including the honourable member for Bligh and the former member for Manly but, alas, opposed by the Coalition.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Vaucluse to order.

Mr CARR: The royal commission’s recommendations are being implemented in this State. As a result of that crucial decision made on the floor of this Parliament in May 1994, New South Wales now has a corruption-resistant Police Service for the first time since the Rum Corps.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Ku-ring-gai to order.

Mr CARR: The person driving the changes is Commissioner Ryan.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I place the honourable member for Gosford on two calls to order.

Mr CARR: Honourable members have seen and know his record. That is why the Government did not hesitate for a minute to reappoint Commissioner Ryan and secure his leadership through to 2003 so that those reforms could be consolidated and expanded to produce a line of succession in the Police Service. The commissioner’s salary has been the topic of some public discussion. I want that to end. Neither the commissioner nor I object to the commissioner’s salary details being released. I have no objection because the Government believes Commissioner Ryan is worth every cent.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the Leader of the National Party to order.

Mr CARR: As the head of an organisation with more than 13,000 members charged with the maintenance of public safety the commissioner’s total independently determined annual remuneration package, including self-funded retirement payments, is $425,000 per annum. Commissioner Ryan is worth every cent. It is money well invested for the people of this State.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Vaucluse to order for the second time.

Mr CARR: The Opposition attacks Commissioner Ryan again. The fact is that with the backing of this Government, and under his leadership, 98 per cent of the royal commission’s recommendations are implemented or are being implemented. We have record police numbers on the streets. Police response times are actually being measured and are being reduced. Under the Coalition police response times were not measured. The basic performance indicator of how long it takes police to get to the scene of a crime is being measured by this Government.

The crime rate is falling for the first time in a decade. Police assistance lines ensure that urgent calls for help are receiving a rapid response. The Police Service was given tough new powers on knives and gangs by this Government, because the service was being transformed by a new leadership. The Child Protection Enforcement Agency was described by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation as a world leader in the fight against paedophilia. What price these reforms? By investing in a reformed and smarter police force the men and women of this State are investing in nothing less than a safer place in which we can live.

For the future they are investing in the commissioner’s plans to use DNA testing to solve previously unsolved crime; plans to establish a database of sex offenders to make the Child Protection Enforcement Agency even more effective; the establishment of the New South Wales crime faculty, based on the United Kingdom model, once led by Peter Ryan; and unprecedented operations against repeat offenders, those who fuel increased crime rates.

They are investing in a Police Service overseen by the Police Integrity Commission, an outside and independent body charged with independent investigation of complaints against the Police Service, a key recommendation of the police royal commission which is operating effectively; and
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the continuing implementation of the royal commission’s blueprint for reform. Consider these reforms, consider the progress that has been made, and consider the distance we have come. The people of New South Wales can reach only one conclusion: This money has been very wisely invested by our State.