A call for the state government to commit funding to a new Inverell police station, has been met with surprise by Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall.
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The statement, released on Tuesday by the Inverell Branch of the Police Association of NSW, urged the government to progress the project with financial support: “While our members acknowledge the speeches and the tours, there needs to be more than a passing political will. Unless the State Government allocates the funds for a new station it will be years before any real progress is made.”
Mr Marshall said the association has not contacted him and were possibly unaware that he could not seek a funding commitment until the NSW Police Properties Unit had supplied the plans and costings.
“There is no stronger advocate for a police station in Inverell than me,” Mr Marshall said.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in that station talking to the officers, I’ve had the police minister up here and working together with the council to get that done and that’s a very high priority for me.”
But Mr Marshall said he could not lobby for funding until he knew how much was needed and that question was still with the police.
“I’m a bit hamstrung as the local MP. I’m ready to mount that campaign and that case for funding but I can’t push forward with it until the police bureaucracy do the design ... I can’t walk in to the Treasurer and ask for a blank cheque.”
With funding for Inverell Hospital recently secured, Mr Marshall said he could turn his full attention to building a police station and would be asking questions about progress when parliament resumes. In the meantime, however, while he welcomed the police association’s support for the project, Mr Marshall suggested there may be some confusion about the source of delays.
The association’s statement also outlined the ongoing “inadequate, uncomfortable and cramped conditions” at the current station. Built in 1969 for use by 14 officers, the facility is now used by almost 50.
Among the problems listed is a leaking roof; flooding car park; no fire escape from the top to ground floor; a shortage of formal interviewing rooms; an outdated muster room; and a front counter where only one officer can serve one member of the public at a time.
