The Hodgman Liberal Government is committed to working with the community to keep women and their children safe from family violence.
Last week, the Premier released the State’s first family violence action plan backed up by a $25.57 million investment in delivering its wide range of initiatives.
Under the Safe Homes, Safe Families: Tasmania’s Family Violence Action Plan 2015-2020, the Department of Police and Emergency Management will take the lead in establishing a multi-agency, Statewide unit to support services for victims and to hold perpetrators to account.
Today, I was pleased to announce that as part of the funding for the action plan, five extra new sworn police officers will be recruited to provide the resources for the new coordination unit. This is in addition to the Government’s commitment to rebuilding Tasmania Police by restoring the 108 officers who were cut under the previous Labor-Green government.
That means that in the first term of the Hodgman Liberal Government we will recruit an additional 113 new police officers, taking the sworn establishment to 1233.
We are also recruiting three new police prosecutors, one in each region, to ensure there is an appropriate focus on family violence cases.
Bringing family violence from behind closed doors and addressing this utterly unacceptable social ill demands a whole of government response, and my Department will certainly be playing a strong part.
As I said in Parliament, the Government and I are particularly thankful of Department head and Tasmania Police Commissioner Darren Hine for his professional leadership and for his personal commitment as a White Ribbon Ambassador.
Rene Hidding, Minister for Police and Emergency Management
