In Upper House Question Time on Tuesday, the Government refused to rule-out Police job cuts as part of the upcoming shake-up of rural Local Area Commands (LACs).

Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party MLC Robert Borsak hit back at the Government for continuing to not clarify the situation.

“Part of the plan for forced amalgamation includes the reduction of eleven rural LACs down to seven. We understand that this will affect the Lachlan, Canobolas, Cootamundra, Wagga Wagga, Mudgee and Orana LACs,” he said.

“We want a guarantee that there will be no Police job cuts: especially when it comes to middle management, Inspectors, Superintendents, and unsworn officers.

“These support personnel allow Police Officers to actually be Police. When the Bradshaw Report said that rural crime must be a key Police focus, I don’t know how the Government can be considering these cutbacks.”

Mr Borsak asked the Government to rule-out rural Police job cuts in Upper House Question Time on Tuesday. They refused to provide a 100% guarantee.

“We cannot keep expecting rural services to do more with less,” he said.

“Unlike city-based Local Area Commands, in the bush our Police often span hundreds of kilometres of service area across multiple Council boundaries.

“Rural Local Area Commands don’t have the support of another one down the road like their city-based counterparts.

Part of the forced amalgamation of Police LACs is expected to see the merger of the following:

A change.org petition to ‘Keep Mudgee Safe’ has so far garnered nearly 500 supporters. The petition is available HERE.