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Cityrail Security Guards

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About this Item
Subjects -  Railways; Security Guards
Speakers - Gallacher The Hon Michael; Costa The Hon Michael
Business - Questions Without Notice
Commentary - Supplementary Question


    CITYRAIL SECURITY GUARDS
Page: 952


    The Hon. MICHAEL GALLACHER: My question without notice is directed to the Minister for Transport Services. The Minister made this statement, as reported in today's Daily Telegraph, in relation to maintaining two security guards on each city rail train after 7.00 p.m.:

    There's no point just deploying across the system if there isn't a necessity. We want to make sure that the transit officers are on those lines that require policing and security.

    Will the Minister now give an undertaking to all rail passengers that two transit officers will provide security on each and every CityRail train after 7.00 p.m.?

    The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: I do not know whether the quotation from the Daily Telegraph is accurate. If it is, it reflects the position I took yesterday, and I stand by that.

    The Hon. MICHAEL GALLACHER: I ask a supplementary question. In light of the Minister's answer, can he indicate which rail lines will have a security presence of two transit officers after 7.00 p.m.?

    The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: So that there is absolutely no confusion—which there appears to be in the Leader of the Opposition—at no point have I indicated there would be two transit officers on every single train after 7.00 p.m. I have indicated that the people who manage that area will make the decision on the deployment of transit officers. That is the only sensible way to do that. Unfortunately, the Leader of the Opposition clearly has forgotten his policing background. If he cared to delve into the past, he would recognise that the appropriate way to deploy scarce resources—resources that cost the community significant amounts of money, in this case millions of dollars—is to do that based on intelligence and—

    The Hon. Michael Gallacher: On which lines are they? That is why I asked the question.
    The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: Clearly, that is a matter for the people managing the area.

    The Hon. Michael Gallacher: But you are the one doing away with it. You are the one making the decision.

    The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: I might remind the Leader of the Opposition that while I am the Minister responsible for overall policy, I do not manage State Rail on a day-to-day basis. We have a chief executive officer who does that. We have a board that provides corporate governance structure, and we have line managers. They will make the decision on how our transit officers are deployed, not I. It would be absurd for a Minister to be making day-to-day operational decisions in any area.

    The Hon. Michael Gallacher: You got rid of the guards.

    The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: The Leader of the Opposition interjects to make the point that we got rid of the security guards. As I indicated yesterday, we are suspending the tender process because I believe the public is not getting value for the $24 million it is paying for security. The reason it is not getting value is that the security guards do not have the powers of the newly created transit officers. The public will get better value with transit officers. [Time expired.]


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