POLICE REGIONAL SUPPORT GROUP
Mr NEWMAN: My question without notice is directed to the Minister for Police and Minister for Emergency Services. Was the tactical response group abolished in 1991? Has it now been re-established under another name - the regional support group? What are its duties?
Mr GRIFFITHS: I thank the honourable member for Cabramatta for his question. I assure the honourable member and every member of this House and every member of the public that the tactical response group has been abolished, as he indicated. There is no intention, and there certainly will not be under my administration, to bring back the tactical response group or any similar body. What operational decision are made by the commissioner are proper decisions made after consultation, but there is no intention on the part of the commissioner or myself to bring back the tactical response group. I would like to give an indication of the commitment of the commissioner in regard to this. I think it is very important that I read this letter because there have been many assertions made about the New South Wales Police Service and what has actually been done or said. I received this letter from the commissioner today in relation to an assertion about the way that police operations run. The letter states:
I am writing to clarify some inaccuracies in various reported aspects of the enterprise agreement currently in force between the Police Service and the Public Service Association in respect of parking patrol officers.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Granville to order.
Mr GRIFFITHS: This is significant:
This agreement was negotiated between the service and the association and was registered on 24th December, 1992.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Bulli to order.
Mr GRIFFITHS: The letter continues:
The key aspects of that agreement were the creation of the rank structure, career paths of patrol officers.
Mr Anderson: On a point of order: the question asked by the honourable member for Cabramatta related to the tactical response group or the regional support group, by whichever name. The Minister is apparently reading a letter about an enterprise agreement with parking patrol officers. I ask you, Mr Speaker, to rule him out of order. This is about an enterprise agreement, which has nothing to do with the question the Minister was asked.
Mr Griffiths: On the point of order: by way of interjections in the question, aspersions were being cast on the New South Wales Police Service.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Police and Minister for Emergency Services well knows the rules of this House in regard to relevancy of answers to questions asked. I presumed the Minister was making a passing reference in response to interjections. The Minister will either provide the necessary linkage between his remarks and the question, or he will return to the subject-matter of the question.
Mr GRIFFITHS: It will be my pleasure to provide that linkage to the House.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Illawarra to order.
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Mr GRIFFITHS: The question in regard to the tactical response group is another Labor lie, just as this is another Labor lie. I will take one more moment to quote from the letter to link in the Labor lie in regard to that. The commissioner said -
Mr Langton: On a point of order: Mr Speaker, your previous ruling directed the Minister to draw the linkage. He quite clearly has not done that. I ask that the Minister be directed to return to the question he was asked.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Police said he would demonstrate the linkage. Until he has done so I cannot rule on it.
Mr GRIFFITHS: The commissioner said:
"there is NO official `quota' system, either implied or implicit within the Parking Officers Enterprise Agreement;".
Mr Carr: On a point of order: unless parking patrol officers are now carrying shields and batons, the Minister's answer is absolutely irrelevant to the question asked.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition must be using powers of clairvoyance which are certainly not possessed by the Speaker. The Minister for Police has spoken only a few words. It still remains for him to show the linkage. I ask the Minister to draw his answer to a conclusion as quickly as possible.
Mr GRIFFITHS: The commissioner said:
•there is NO sanctioned unofficial system of this type;
•as Commissioner, if I become aware of any unofficial application of such a `quota' system I will take immediate steps to terminate that practice.
Mr E. T. Page: On a point of order: previous points of order were taken when the Minister was quoting from a letter. Mr Speaker, you ruled that he must establish the link. The Minister has made no attempt to do so. All he has done is to keep quoting from the letter.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The House has been somewhat more orderly today than it has been in the past two days. I would like that position to continue through the balance of question time. I am concerned that submissions on points of order are becoming superfluous to the matters being raised. I will hear the honourable member for Monaro on the point of order and then rule on it. I call the honourable member for Smithfield to order for the second time.
Mr Cochran: On the a point of order: it is apparent that the Minister for Police is establishing a link between the two events. The consistency is that the Labor Party has lied on both occasions.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! If the Minister for Police was endeavouring to draw the linkage between aspersions regarding the police force in one section and aspersions that may have occurred in another section, I believe he has established that link. The Minister will either return to the subject-matter of the question or resume his seat if he has finished answering the question.
Mr GRIFFITHS: Thank you, Mr Speaker, for your guidance in that regard. Clearly that establishes the link of another Labor lie. There is no question, and there never will be a question under my administration, of bringing back the tactical response group. The TRG is gone; the TRG will not be coming back. Another Labor Party lie.