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- 28 March 2006
Bulldogs Rugby League Club Fan Behaviour
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Page: 21543
Mr MATTHEW MORRIS: My question is addressed to the Minister for Police. What is the Government's response to policing resources at Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs games and related matters?
Mr CARL SCULLY: I thank the honourable member for Charlestown for his question.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member for Murrumbidgee will come to order.
Mr CARL SCULLY: Last week I chaired a meeting with Malcolm Noad; David Gallop; Ken Edwards, who is the head of Telstra Stadium; the Commissioner of Police; and the deputy commissioner. It followed pretty ugly scenes at a game between the Bulldogs and the Tigers last Friday week. It was a frank, productive meeting, at which a number of issues were canvassed. I am pleased to say that the behaviour of fans at the game last Friday night was exemplary, and I take this opportunity to thank Canterbury supporters for behaving themselves. The efforts of Malcolm Noad and David Gallop were terrific: they took a number of steps to ensure that the behaviour of the crowd was as good as possible. I acknowledge also the work done by Canterbury over the past couple of years. Apart from the incident about 10 days or so ago, there had been no similar incidents for about two years.
Mr Andrew Stoner: Point of order: My point of order goes to relevance. It is relevant that 10 days or so ago there were some pretty ugly scenes in Bourke. There was a riot in Bourke. People were in fear of their lives but there was no media involved so the Minister did not send police up there, did he?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of The Nationals will resume his seat.
Mr Andrew Stoner: What is the Minister going to do for the bush?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of The Nationals will restrict his policy speeches to the appropriate times. The Minister has the call.
Mr CARL SCULLY: That is outrageous. We cannot use the word "lie" in this place and I will not do so now, but that was an outrageous untruth and a slur on the police who did a damn good job in Bourke. How dare the Leader of The Nationals say that!
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The House will come to order. The Minister has the call.
Mr CARL SCULLY: I will not have the Leader of The Nationals taking points of order and slurring the police. Those opposite are always bagging the cops. Yet again, the police did a good job managing the Bulldogs game last Friday. We must respond strongly to inappropriate behaviour by fans. I have told the head of the Bulldogs club that we will shadow the team for the rest of the season until we get an absolute assurance that its supporters will either stay away if they cannot behave or behave when they attend games.
It is important to ensure that there is proper cost recovery on behalf of the taxpayers of the cost of providing extra police at games. I am pleased to say that the Bulldogs Rugby League Club has agreed to make a significant contribution towards the cost of policing its away matches for both general duties and riot police. Those opposite may know this already but, for the benefit of those who do not, the way that user pays works in National Rugby League games is that the home team pays the cost of the police, which is calculated on a risk assessment basis. The Bulldogs have agreed to pay a significant proportion of the cost of the additional police who are required to be present at the team's away games. That is very important. How many police will be required at each game depends on a risk assessment done by police at each game. But I assure honourable members that riot police will be present in reasonable numbers at every game, particularly at home games.
Mr Peter Debnam: Is that 150?
Mr CARL SCULLY: Not necessarily.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member for Bathurst will contain his enthusiasm.
Mr CARL SCULLY: I am entitled to respond. I referred to the riot squad and the Leader of the Opposition wants to know how many police will be present at games. His shadow Minister for Police referred to that squad as being "dubious". He is dubious.
Mr Peter Debnam: Point of order—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! This has almost become a debate. What is the point of order?
Mr Peter Debnam: The Minister asked me a question. He introduced the concept of a water cannon 12 months after the police commissioner said, "When we introduce water cannon it's an admission of failure and we've lost control of the streets".
Mr SPEAKER: Order! During question time questions are directed to Ministers, not to the Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition may ask a question but he cannot provide the answer.
Mr Peter Debnam: What are we going to get next—a helicopter gunship? What are you going to use—six water cannons, six helicopter gunships?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat.
[Interruption]
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat.
[Interruption]
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Police has the call.
Mr CARL SCULLY: The shadow Minister for Police regards the riot squad as "dubious" so I can only assume that we now have two commitments from the Opposition. There is the commitment to abolish the riot squad—that is what must logically flow from labelling it "dubious". So we can bank on that. So now we have a situation where, if the Coalition is elected in April and there is a riot—
Mr Andrew Tink: April? The election is in March.
Mr CARL SCULLY: When there is a new government it takes a few days. I remember because I was sworn in on my thirty-eighth birthday—the best birthday present I ever had! So let us assume that Coalition members are sworn in next April and then Steve Cullen says to them, "I want to use the water cannon to deal with this riot". But the shadow Minister has said that he will not allow that to happen. Shame on him! Not only have Opposition members been bagging the cops, but now they are starting to bag the equipment we give the cops when they ask for it.
Mr Peter Debnam: Point of order: My understanding is that the water cannon will be freely available—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order.
Mr Peter Debnam: —except the Government has agreed with the Labor Council that it will not be used on union picket lines. Is that the case?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat.
[Interruption]
Mr SPEAKER: Order! If the Leader of the Opposition wishes to continue to make policy statements he should do so at the appropriate time, which is not question time. The Minister has the call.
Mr CARL SCULLY: Yesterday the Leader of the Opposition held a function—the Millennium Forum, or whatever they call it. All the white shoe brigade turned up to raise funds for the Coalition. The Leader of the Opposition released a pamphlet containing a range of commitments, most of which were dubious. The Leader of the Opposition actually made the commitment that, if elected, the Coalition will recruit 600 police. The trouble is—
Mr Barry O'Farrell: Point of order: My point of order relates to relevance and honesty. If the Minister is going to quote the brochure he should quote it correctly. We promised to replace the 600 police that the Government have slashed since the last election.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order.
[Interruption]
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. This is question time, not explanation time.
Mr CARL SCULLY: The Opposition produced this pamphlet before we announced a commitment to increase authorised strength by 750 officers. So by January next year we will have 15,206 police—authorised strength. Those opposite have promised 600; we have promised—and we will deliver—750 officers. Those opposite do not like it. We have to interpret quite reasonably what Opposition members have said.
Mr Peter Debnam: Mr Speaker—
Mr CARL SCULLY: What this means is that you are going to reduce the police by 150, you scoundrel!
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Minister has been constantly interrupted during his reply. Question time has almost become a debate. I will hear the point of order of the Leader of the Opposition, which I hope will comply with the standing orders. The House will then be able to continue with question time, as set out in the routine of business. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.
Mr Peter Debnam: Mr Speaker, it is about the use of props. We got a call from the Premier's department, wanting to send someone along, but I did not get a call from the alternative Premier's department—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. He is deliberately flouting the standing orders of this House. I call him to order.
Mr CARL SCULLY: Much will be said about police numbers between now and the end of March next year. I welcome the debate because I know the public and the police also welcome that this Government is not going to just promise to increase police numbers but will deliver increased police numbers. Members of the Opposition roam around the State with considerable mischief but I want honourable members to remember that when the Coalition was rightly defeated about 11 years ago it had an authorised police strength of 12,907. This Government is above an authorised strength at 15,206. The Coalition could not even meet that figure. This Government has the solutions and is delivering for the people of this State and the Opposition is not.
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