Mr KEENAN (9:45 AM) —I note that members of the Labor Party cannot even make a speech about breastfeeding now without mentioning Work Choices, which I think shows their myopic vision at the moment.

After speaking to people in my electorate of Stirling, I note that crime is one of the issues of major concern. Indeed, I think it would probably be the No. 1 concern of people who contact my office. Families, small business owners, young couples and even schools, charities and volunteer organisations have contacted me about the level of crime in my electorate. Only last week I held a community forum with the Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator Chris Ellison, and the acting Inspector of the West Metropolitan Police District, Inspector Joe Watts. The event had one of the largest turnouts of people for any function that I have held since I was elected as the federal member for Stirling. This I think reflects the broad community concern about the issue of crime.

The reality is that the Western Australia Police Service is very stretched at the moment, with large numbers of officers leaving and an increasingly heavy workload. The downside of the economic boom in WA is proving particularly challenging for the police service, as officers leave to take up more lucrative opportunities elsewhere. And why wouldn’t they? Policing is a tough job and the pay and conditions have not kept up with the demands that police officers currently face.

The Western Australia Police Service is currently engaged in a dispute with the state Labor government about pay and conditions. Given that policing is such hard graft and exposes serving officers to considerable dangers, I think that their pay demands are completely justified.

Mr Bowen —Good to know there’s one friend of the workers on the other side!

Ms Kate Ellis —What did the police association think of Work Choices?

Mr KEENAN —Furthermore, Western Australia is never going to be able to get police officers back up to proper operational levels until pay and conditions are substantially increased. I note the support of the member for Prospect and the member for Adelaide for my position.

For the state government it is really a matter of priorities. Do they prioritise community safety, and do they believe that enough is being done to tackle crime? Do they think that it is acceptable that the police are unable to respond in a timely manner to incidents, particularly serious incidents, even involving weapons in school grounds? Considering that the Western Australian Labor government are the highest taxing state government in the whole of Australia, and they are currently sitting on a surplus of $2.3 billion, I think that it makes a lot of sense for them to meet the police service in WA halfway and accede to some of their not excessive demands. I, as the member for Stirling, fully support the Western Australia Police Service in their battle with the Western Australian Labor government and I believe that improving the conditions for serving police officers will also enhance community safety in Stirling. (Time expired)