Petitions-24 March, 1981 499 1 p~~ielnfihe$eeemhlg Tuesday, 24 March, 1981 Petitions-New South Wales Police Force (Urgency)-Questions without Notice- Heroin (Ministerial Statement)-Anti-Discrimination Cognate Bills (second read- ing)-Motor Vehicles (Third Party Insurance) Amendment Bill (second reading, third reading)-Totalizator (Amendment) Bill (second reading)-Police Regulation (Superannuation) Cognate Bills (second reading, third reading)-Bills Returned-Lord Howe Island (Amendment) Bill (second reading)-Bills Returned -Adjournment (Dundas Migrant Hostel Site)-Questions upon Notice. Mr Speaker (The Hon. Lawrence Borthwick Kelly) took the chair at 2.15 p.m. Mr Speaker offered the Prayer. PETITIONS The Clerk announced that the following petitions had been lodged for presentation: Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act The Petition of certain residents of New South Wales respectfully sheweth that: Section 20 of the Cruelty to Animals Act may prevent the con- duct of properly organized and supervised bushmen's carnivals and rodeos. Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray that your honourable House will take action to repeal section 20 of the Cruelty to Animals Act. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. Petition, lodged by Mr McCathy, received. Rainforests The humble Petition of the undersigned citizens of New South Wales respectfully sheweth: That rainforests maintain a greater diversity of vegetation and animal life than any other forest type. There is worldwide concern for their preservation. The logging policies of the New South Wales Forestry Commission do not protect the ecological integrity of our rainforests. At the present rate of logging the State's remaining rainforests will be exhausted within fifteen years. Workers employed in the logging of rainforests will become unemployed from 1982 onwards. Therefore we humbly request that there be an immediate cessation of logging in all the remaining rainforests in New South Wales and that steps be taken to ensure that employment schemes, such as reafforesta- tion and use of alternative timber supplies, be implemented for dis- placed workers. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. Petitions, lodged by Mr Egan and Mr McCarthy, received. Traffic Signals for Mt Kuring-gai This Petition of certain citizens of New South Wales respectfully sheweth: There is an urgent need to improve safety for motorists wishing to join or cross the Pacific Highway from Glenview Road, Mt Kuring- gai. Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray that your honourable House will give urgent consideration to gaining safe entry onto the highway from Glenview Road by either installing traffic signals at Glenview Road, or providing vehicular access to Nyara Road; and that it makes an early announcement on this matter in order that the safety of the people using the intersection be protected. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. Petition, lodged by Mr Pickard, received. NEW SOUTH WALES POLICE FORCE Urgency Mr MASON (Dubbo), Leader of the Opposition 12.201: I move: That it is a matter of urgent necessity that this House should forthwith consider the following motion, viz.: That this House calls on the Government to increase the strength of the New South Wales Police Force by 1000 instead of reducing the level of police protection to the community and commends the members of the New South Wales Police Force for their dedication to duty. This matter is of extreme importance because the police form is becoming less and less able to provide protection and security for the people of this State. Its ability to do so has been strained to the limit. The matter is of extreme importance and urgency because the thin blue line between the community and the criminal is getting thinner and thinner. Last year the Commissioner of Police sought an increase in police strength of 350 men. So pathetic was the influence of the Minister for Police with his Cabinet colleagues that he was able to get only 100 extra staff. Though other Ministers increased their departmental strength, the Minister for Police stood by and saw the priority of the police pushed lower and lower. At the same time the Minister has stood by help- lessly and watched the champion of the trendies, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, rip out of the laws of this State the support for his police officers. Gradually changes such as the repeal of the Summary Offences Act and the Bail Act will eat away the ability of those fine men under the Minister's control to safeguard the community. Urgency-24 March, 198 1 4993 This matter is urgent because New South Wales police are working under extreme pressure. So serious is the shortage of police that right now most officers are working up to twenty-four days without so much as a day off. Their rosters are so tight, and the pressure upon them so great, that non-commissioned officers in par- ticular have virtually forgotten what it is like to have a day off. The stress and tension of being in the front line of community protection are beginning to take their toll. Last year there was a massive increase of 31.1 per cent in resignations from the police force. In that year a staggering $14.3 million was paid to police in overtime. Has the Government made no allowance for the demands it puts on its police force when, for instance, a strike occurs in the prison system? Overtime payments incurred because of strikes in the prison system cost $500,000. Some 75 000 man-hours were spent in a search by police for escaped criminal Raymond Denning, and 40 000 man-hours of overtime were occasioned by staff shortages, which cost about $420,000. How long does the Government expect officers of the police force to work under those con- ditions? Certainly there is already a serious increase in absences through sick leave. Unless the Government takes urgent action, more and more officers will succumb to the tension and pressure that is already beginning to evidence itself. Later the House will debate legislation that will allow police officers to retire earlier. The need for such legislation demonstrates the pressure and tension that is building up within the New South Wales police force. This matter is urgent because we have reached the alarming stage where police are unable to give the protection that the community is entitled to expect. There are not enough police to man car patrols and provide adequate st& to keep open our police stations. For some time nineteen stations have been closed at night. Now, twenty-one more stations are to be left unmanned at night. The situation is more serious than that. Reoeatly the homicide squad was able to roster only one detective for day duty. Other specialist squads are being weakened because their non-commissioned officers must go to major police stations such as Chatswood simply to keep those stations open by undertaking general duties. Recently a harassed senior superintendent told me that all the police could do was answer complaints, and that crime prevention, community relations and education have had to be neglected. On 12th March the director of the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics, Dr Sutton, made a call, which I am sure would be echoed by people throughout the State, for a return to foot patrols by policemen in order to improve security on the streets. Most senior policemen to whom I have spoken would like to be able to send men out on street patrol again but that is a forlorn hope. In Victoria, Queensland and in the other States one sees policemen on the streets, instilling confidence into the citizens and by their presence providing a warning to criminals. New South Wales has fallen so far behind the other States in police strength that there is no hope of returning to police street patrols. It is urgent that police strength be increased just to man the cars that are parked at police stations night after night because there is no one to drive them. It is urgent that police stren@ be increased to a level necessary to ensure that policemen are not sent out on assignments alone. That intolerable practice has led to the loss of lives of policemen in more recent times. It is a practice that nobody should accept for one moment, but unfortunately it has been forced on the police of New South Wales. In the interests of the community, police are putting their lives at risk, and are bearing the burden by being the front line of protection for citizens. The horrible stage that has been reached is that not enough policemen are available 313 to do the work that has to be done. The police are facing risks, uncertainty and the possibility of death when they go out alone in answer to calls, as they are required to do regularly. The matter is urgent because crime in New South Wales is on the increase. The latest figures available show that, since the Labor Government assumed office and police manpower started to decline, armed hold-ups have increased by 78.8 per cent in New South Wales, non-aggravated assaults have increased by 42 per cent, offences of breaking, entering and stealing from dwellings have increased by 19 per cent, offences of breaking entering and stealing from other places are up 14.8 per cent, and car thefts have risen by 40 per cent. Other offences, which include arson, malicious injury, damage to property, possession of unlicensed pistols and similar crimes have increased by 43.2 per cent. Does the House need more facts to convince it of the need to increase the size of the police force by 1 000 officers? More than twenty months ago His Honour Mr Justice Lusher was appointed to carry out an inquiry into the administration and staffing of the police force.