Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was interested to hear the contribution by the member for Higgins. She was obviously advocating for Work Choices, but it was also obvious that she did not check her facts before standing up to speak in this parliament, because the number of strikes under the Gillard and Rudd governments has been significantly lower than under the Howard government—and that is under the Fair Work Act.

I reluctantly rise to bring up a state matter. I have always been quite critical of members raising state matters in this parliament, but this is an issue of enormous magnitude. The newly elected Liberal state member for Swansea was elected under the banner of having Swansea Police Station open 24 hours a day. There has been quite a controversy over a number of years over the Swansea Police Station. I actually served as the member for Swansea for 3½ years and during that time I managed to move from a situation where there was an empty police station sitting in Swansea to a situation where it was staffed from nine to five—still not good enough by a long way, but it was a step in the right direction. Subsequent members for Swansea had a new police station built, but there were still problems around the staffing of that police station. There was a definite feeling within the community that they would like that police station staffed for 24 hours a day, but it did not happen. In the lead-up to the last election, the state member for Swansea told the electorate that he was going to have that police station staffed 24 hours a day.

Yesterday I received an email from a constituent. I know there has been a lot of concern within the Swansea electorate about the closure—not the staffing for 24 hours but the closure—of the Swansea Police Station. The constituent said that he was turning to me for:

… some sort of assistance regarding the lack of Police support here and the news—

and this is the part that I am really upset about—

that Swansea Police Station is to be decommissioned.

The police station, which the now Liberal member for Swansea promised would operate for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is now to be decommissioned, according to an email I received from a constituent. I do not like becoming involved in state issues. I feel that, as a federal member of parliament, I should concentrate my energies and efforts on federal issues. But when it comes to constituents whom I represent being left without a police station I feel I need to investigate. That is exactly what I am going to do. I will contact the legislative councillor, Luke Foley, who actually is a Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, and ask him to further investigate this matter. This is a matter of enormous concern to the people of Swansea. Swansea is an older area, but a newer area is also covered by that police station. The older people there are very fearful. The person who wrote to me said they suffer from a mobility disability and pointed out that many people in that area do and that there are also many retired and elderly people. They are afraid to go out after dark, as they fear they may be victims of crime. This constituent said he would not have been afraid as a younger man, but now, as he has got older, he is afraid. I call on the member for Swansea, Mr Garry Edwards, to be true to his promise and ensure that the Swansea police station stays open 24 hours a day. (Time expired)

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