Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have to say the coalition's record on matters of safety and crime prevention speaks for itself through a number of grant and funding streams, commitments to the community and targeted financial assistance to those most vulnerable, all while ensuring the right fund mix is spread across our communities in Australia. Safety and crime prevention are a priority for this government. We have consistently worked towards our goal of ensuring that all our communities are safe, that there is downward pressure on crime and that we provide opportunities to every individual to develop the skills necessary to make good life choices.

As was mentioned yesterday in this place by the Minister for Home Affairs, under the Safer Communities Fund program we've committed over $180 million to local councils, places of worship, not-for-profit organisations and organisations working with at-risk young people, leading to greater resilience and wellbeing in our communities. Deputy Speaker O'Brien, you as a former police officer would well know that the role of police and investigators, whether they are state and territory or federal, is very difficult. It's an extremely difficult job, and it's hard to be at the coalface day in and day out. So we should recognise the work that police officers, and former police officers as well, across our nation do and thank them for their contribution to our communities.

Law enforcement and the justice system cannot do it alone. I have said many times in this place that it must start at home. It has to start with education and good respect for authority. But sometimes we understand that it can't start at home, because those support systems aren't there. So it is up to us, as a government and as communities, to provide that support infrastructure for those who are less fortunate, for those who do not have the parental guidance that most of us have had as we have grown up.

One unbelievable example of that is in Kempsey, in my electorate. The Macleay Vocational College received $500,000 back in 2016. This college provides a safety net for children who have fallen out of the mainstream, for those children who are cast aside for various reasons by the standard social infrastructure. A fellow by the name of Mark Morrison, who is the principal of that school, was awarded an Order of Australia for services to his community. I cannot think of anyone more deserving. He is running this school, and I have seen the results, with these young people who were given no hope now graduating with their high school certificates, trade certificates and skills, making them attractive to potential employers in the future. This was a government grant. This money is going to the right place so that we do not allow those who slip through the cracks to fall by the wayside.

Additionally, in the electorate of Cowper, there have been a number of grants secured over the past five years. In the past five years, the Kempsey Shire Council received $300,000 for CCTV; the Coffs Harbour City Council received $590,000 for security upgrades on the Park Beach Reserve; Nambucca Shire Council received $20,000 for fencing to minimise crime; Port Macquarie Rotary Lodge received $13,500. I could go on and on with these great grants. But I should note that, contrary to Labor's popular belief, marginal seats don't always get the funding. In fact, my electorate didn't receive any funding in round 4 or round 5. I note the statistics as to the allocation of these funds being 51 to 49 or thereabouts.

This government is providing the resources and the fair allocation of moneys to make sure that our communities are safe.

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