Wednesday, March 3, 2004

Operation Least Said WA connection to Operation Florida NSW

Extract from Hansard [ASSEMBLY - Wednesday, 3 March 2004]

p283c-284a

Mr Colin Barnett; Dr Geoff Gallop; Mr Rob Johnson; Speaker

[1] POLICE ROYAL COMMISSION REPORT, REFERENCE TO SIGNIFICANT AND SUSTAINED CORRUPTION AND CRIMINAL CONDUCT

16. Mr C.J. BARNETT to the Premier:

I refer the Premier to his ministerial statement in this House yesterday regarding the 1053-page report of the Royal Commission Into "Whether There Has Been Any Corrupt or Criminal Conduct by Western Australian Police Officers", in which he stated that the report found the following -

. . . there has been significant and sustained corruption and criminal conduct in the Western Australia Police Service since 1985;
  • (1) Can the Premier point to the page of the royal commission report that says there is significant and sustained corruption in the WA Police Service?
  •  
  • (2) Given that only two out of 5 000 WA police officers have been charged as a result of the police royal commission, will the Premier now admit he is smearing the entire Police Service in an attempt to justify his expenditure of $28 million of taxpayers’ funds?

Dr G.I. GALLOP replied:

(1)-(2)
The Liberal Party learns nothing. Western Australian history rolls by, and members opposite learn absolutely nothing about what is needed to improve our society. In fact, the definition of Western Australian liberalism is complacency. The Liberals sweep these things under the carpet, as they did for eight years. I ask the Leader of the Opposition a question: are there quotation marks around those two words? That is point one. Point two: anybody who reads those two volumes would reach no other conclusion.

The first page of the report says that the evidence shows that the full range of corrupt or criminal
conduct in the Western Australia Police Service is in line with similar findings by other commissions in Australia.

Mr M.J. Birney: What does that mean?

Dr G.I. GALLOP: What do you think it means, my friend? The report then goes on to show that that occurred over a long period. A substantial proportion of the cases occurred a number of years ago, but there was a continuing problem in the service. Indeed, the royal commission expressed concern that a number of the officers who participated in this conduct and who not only refused to admit it, but also uniformly denied it with vehemence, remain in the WA Police Service.

Regarding the evidence in the Operation Least Said segment dealing with the period from 1985 to 2003, the royal commission said that it demonstrated a continuing pattern of police misconduct throughout that period that had proceeded largely unimpeded and unpunished by the investigative practices in place during that time.

Point of Order

Mr R.F. JOHNSON: The Premier is obviously reading from an official document. I ask that he table that document.

The SPEAKER: It does not appear to be an official document.

Mr R.F. Johnson: He’s quoting from it.

The SPEAKER: Members can quote from their notes during question time.

Questions without Notice Resumed

Dr G.I. GALLOP: If assaults, perjury, drug dealing, and improper disclosure of confidential information is not significant, what is? Does the Leader of the Opposition regard that to be significant malpractice? Is it criminal behaviour? Of course it is. I also point out to the Leader of the Opposition that this behaviour continues. In fact, it continues to happen right up to today; so much so that the police royal commission stated that “. . . internal investigations . . . were clearly unsatisfactory.” What is of more significance is the extent to which the WA Police Service has been ineffective in monitoring these events and modifying its procedures to deal with that conduct and to prevent its repetition. The only person in Western Australia incapable of reading the royal commission report is the Leader of the Opposition. He is in a party that covered up these matters for eight years when in government.

In conclusion, the Leader of the Opposition also said in his response to my speech that I used the word “systemic”. I have never used that word in that regard. There was a good discussion of this issue at the press conference yesterday, at which we specifically said that the situation in Western  serious, continuing and sustained, but not systemic. I call on the Leader of the Opposition to take away those comments from the public debate because they are not true. It is indicative of a continuing pattern in which the Leader of the Opposition says anything about anything to try to make a political point. Inevitably, what he says is not true. His credibility is on the line in relation to this issue.