In the face of a worsening crime problem, Government is hoping to get the assistance of the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Justice and the NSW Police Force and they are hoping that the teams will pay a visit to T&T in the near future to work with their counterparts here.
In April 2018, the Daily Telegraph reported that NSW has the fewest police officers per capita and spends less on crime-fighting than any other state, with spending on police services plummeting by more than half a billion dollars since 2016.
The police force, according to the report, is “the envy of the Western world” with statistics showing that crime rates were falling.
Yesterday Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and the delegation including Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young met with officials from the New South Wales Department of Justice and the NSW Police Force where the discussions focused on national security issues.
In attendance at the meeting were Scott Corrigan of the NSW Department of Justice, Inspector Dave Gawel, Inspector Ben Hopper, Inspector Jeremy Woo, Supt Michael McLean, Snr Sgt John Manuel and a number of other officers from the NSW Department of Justice and the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet.
The round-table meeting focused on counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism and the NSW whole of government approach and cross-agency cooperation in dealing with this issue.
Rowley and the T&T delegation also met with Australian Export Finance (EFIC) at their headquarters in Sydney.
EFIC is Australia’s export credit agency whose loans are backed by the Australian Government and geared towards assisting Australian exporters.
The delegation will travel to Tasmania today where they will meet with marine vessel manufacturers INCAT. A similar meeting took place on Monday with vessel manufacturer Austal.