Petition
HON ALISON XAMON (North Metropolitan) [2.11 pm]: I present a petition containing 80 signatures couched in the following terms —
To the President and Members of the Legislative Council of the Parliament of Western Australia in Parliament assembled.
We the undersigned residents of WesternAustralia respectfully oppose the current system of accountability for Western Australian police and other corruption oversight agencies, which we believe is not effective. As it stands, investigations into police corruption are reported and then systematically refuted. This is not for lack of meritorious complaints. Police are rarely prosecuted or disciplined for the death, assault or ill treatment of a member of the public. There have been a string of homicide cases where innocent people have been incarcerated for years, a failure to safeguard women from domestic violence assaults, afailure to enforce restraining orders, and, most damning, WA leading the nation in young Indigenous incarcerations. Yet not one of the existing oversight bodies has civilian powers to enforce justice.
Your petitioners therefore respectfully request the Legislative Council to support the creation of a Multi-Partisan Select Committee to audit the internal workings of Western Australia’s police and other corruption oversight agencies, including the WA Crime and Corruption Commission, WA Police Internal Affairs, and the WA Ombudsman. They should be replaced with a single civilian oversight body, in the model of the UK’s Independent Police Complaints Commission, to improve efficiency, save money, and be publically accountable. The proposed Commission should have Royal Commission type powers including being headed by an external superior court Judge, have a deputy legal practitioner with a minimum of 7 years of Law practice, appointments for 5 year periods, and a completion date of 6 months for all corruption complaints.
And your petitioners as in duty bound, will ever pray