As a former police prosecutor I witnessed first-hand the unnecessary burden placed upon police officers to transport prisoners. Our police have a tremendous workload and their responsibilities should be to police their community, and not be tasked with the additional responsibility of transporting prisoners who are subject of a court-imposed incarceration. Once a court imposes a sentence or makes an order determining an individual be held in custody, from that moment onward the prisoner is the responsibility of Corrective Services.
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Prisoner transport is draining the already limited police staff and resources for considerable periods. It is a reasonable expectation of our community that police and their resources remain within their townships to perform their essential duties. The loss in time and money allocated to prisoner transport by country police would be far better spent on increasing the front-line. It is time that this tradition, which was based upon convenience, is now abandoned.
The Australian Productivity Commission’s recent report identified that NSW has the lowest expenditure on policing services per person and the next-to-worst police to population ratio of all states. In light of this, the National Liberal Government need to immediately respond by appropriately allocating this task to be managed by Justice NSW, and allow limited policing resources to focus on its core responsibilities.
Police have hard enough of a job without having to fight to keep what limited resources they have to put on the front line to keep our community safe, so I intend to advocate for them and raise this issue directly with the Government in NSW Parliament.
WE DID IT!
Following a sustained campaign with the support of our state’s emergency services personnel and their unions, we have been successful in protecting our protectors. Minster for Roads Melinda Pavey succumbed to our constant pressure and has now agreed to implement a 40 KM/H speed zone in the vicinities of emergency services personnel who are performing their essential duties on and near roadways.
This is a vital step towards protecting the brave people who protect us. Since I started this campaign, a police officer tragically lost his lower leg when he was struck by an approaching vehicle while he was performing duties near a roadway at Leumeah. The new regulation will commence on September 1 and be reviewed 12 months later.
Thank you to the thousands of emergency service workers, their families and those in our community who supported me in this fight by signing my petition. Without your help the National Liberal Government would have continued to neglect the safety of the brave men and women of our professional and volunteer emergency services.
I STAND WITH YOU
I stood by you and now finally the NSW Government does, too. The National Liberal Government, in its lack of wisdom, planned to cease funding disability advocacy on June 30, which sparked strong public outcry.
I was relieved to hear Premier Gladys Berejiklian has come to her senses and responded to the `Stand-By-Me’ campaign, which I strongly supported. The Premier reversed her decision announcing $26m in funding until 2020.
This will come as good news to those that would otherwise have been left to fend for themselves, as the NDIS did not include advocacy as part of its service.
