Leader of the Opposition, Lia Finocchiaro, says it’s outrageous the Police Minister can only offer the return of the Darwin Watch House ‘part-time’ because of the Gunner Labor Government’s failure to provide adequate staff and resources to the Territory’s police force.
“The Darwin Watch House was shut last July, which means Darwin-based officers currently have to spend around an hour and a half off the road to process an arrest in Palmerston.
“Today, in Question Time, I asked the Police Minister when the Darwin Watch House would re-open. The best she could offer was a part-time Darwin Watch House because of the strain on our understaffed, under resourced force.
“The cruel irony for our police is, the Palmerston police station was purpose-built to give the Darwin region a second Watch House. That was to relieve demand on officers and slash time spent travelling between Palmerston and Darwin.
“If the NT Police Force wasn’t stretched to breaking point before the global pandemic there wouldn’t be such a strain on staffing due to the agency’s COVID-19 response,” said Ms Finocchiaro.
Another glaring failure of the Gunner Labor Government was highlighted when the Shadow Minister for Territory Families, Joshua Burgoyne, quizzed Labor about how many family responsibility agreements and family responsibility orders are in place in across the Territory.
“The fact the Minister for Territory Families spoke at length in Parliament yesterday about these family responsibility agreements and family responsibility orders as part of the
government’s plan to curb anti-social behaviour, we would have thought the Minister would know the basics, like how many there are. The fact is, the Minister once again simply
couldn’t answer the question,” said Mr Burgoyne.