Historic police stations not fit, says union

The WA Police Union has raised questions about why no funding was directed to Mid West and Gascoyne regions as part of a State Government spend of $100 million upgrading police stations. Earlier this month, Police Minister Michelle Roberts announced $96.5 million would be spent providing modern facilities for police including $13 million in regional locations. The upgrades, which she labelled as “urgently due”, are expected to begin within weeks. WA Police Union President Harry Arnott welcomed the announcement and said the investment was a good start after years of neglect for police facilities. “We acknowledge this Government’s investment as a positive start however, it is really only the tip of the iceberg,” he said. He questioned why some stations in the Mid West had again been overlooked for refurbishment. “Cue is an old historic building but it shouldn’t be an operational police station in 2020 and it needs urgent replacement,” he said. “Mullewa and Morawa are also prime examples of tired, old police stations which are no longer fit for purpose.” In response Ms Roberts said the funding was part of the Government’s COVID Recovery Plan and came on top of regular maintenance and refurbishment work at police stations across the State. “The projects were identified by police, based on operational need and the projects being shovel-ready,” she said. “The McGowan Government is working with the WA Police Force to address this backlog and improve our regional police stations.” A Government spokesman said there were works scheduled this year for police stations in the Mid West and Gascoyne which did not fall under the recovery plan.