Some of WA's key policies are up in the air with minister's resignation

In the aftermath of Paul Papalia's resignation from WA parliament, his policies will continue to play out thousands of kilometres away on red dirt streets, in outback prisons and in remote communities with alcohol-fuelled harm.During his tenure, Mr Papalia has held some of WA's most influential portfolios and leaves behind sweeping reforms and unresolved questions about lasting change.Nowhere are those questions more pressing than in the WA's Kimberley region, where many of his defining policies around youth crime, corrections and alcohol restrictions were conceived, trialled and acutely felt.Whether those changes solved the problems they set out to fix is now a question his successors will inherit.Has increasing police officer presence made a difference?Known for his tough on crime approach, Mr Papalia once said some children involved in criminal activity "belong in detention" after a spree of offences in Kununurra last year.Paul Papalia announces his resignation from politics. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)Operation Regional Shield (OPS) was rolled out in 2022, under comparable circumstances of youth crime escalation in the Kimberley, with the goal of deploying city-based officers to regional locations.The government has since credited this initiative with reducing burglaries and vehicle thefts, allocating tens of millions of dollars to it over the years, with the most recent funding boost in May equalling $24 million.Four years on from its initial inceptions and offences against a person or property in the Kimberley have not changed — with about 13,100 offences in both the 2021–22 financial year and 2024–25 financial year.The operation has faced criticism over its sustainability, impact of resources and whether funding should go to increasing arrests or bolstering on-country rehabilitation.The Kimberley has some of the highest rates of family and domestic violence related crime in the state. (ABC Kimberley: Erin Parke)WA Police Union president Simone Taplin said while the operation might be "budgeted for", it was a "band-aid solution".She questioned the sustainability of sending metropolitan officers to the Kimberley and not backfilling them while they were away."At what point do we just say that we need a flying squad, or we are going to have FIFO workers," Ms Taplin said."The Kimberley has been left now, because of previous policies put in place, where we don't have officers up there anymore because we've got regional shields so we're relying on that to fill vacancies."Ms Taplin said it was clear "throwing money" at the problem was not helping, emphasising the focus should be on retaining officers rather than on recruitment.In response to critics, Mr Papalia has previously said escalations in criminal activity "isn't just a policing problem, and it can't be just a policing solution" which required a multi-agency approach.What's being done to reform corrective services?The failures of the state's regional corrective and youth detention system have been laid bare for years, with First Nations people, many of whom hail from the Kimberley, disproportionately affected.The deaths of two teenage boys in custody within a 12-month period brought the blatant systemic issues within youth detention into sharp focus, with Mr Papalia insisting conditions had since improved.Kununurra Aboriginal Legal Service senior managing lawyer Sally Oliver described the adult corrective system as "appalling" and "inhumane".Sally Oliver says urgent action is needed to address the corrective system failures. (ABC News: Giulia Bertoglio)"It was already in crisis and it's gotten worse, which beggars belief," Ms Oliver said."I've been working in the system for 10 years and I did not think I was going to watch it get demonstrably worse."Ms Oliver said clients sent off country due to Kimberley's prison overcrowding reported prolonged lockdowns in cells and limited access to social visits."There are people who are vulnerable offenders, who have mental illness, cognitive disability, alcohol dependency and there are children," she said."I don't think he's [Mr Papalia] done very much for the vulnerable people I work with."The treatment of prisoners with mental health conditions is another albatross around the state's neck."We have one forensic facility, which famously has 30 beds in a system where there are over 7,000 people incarcerated, 50 per cent of whom have mental health issues," Ms Oliver said.Broome Regional Prison has repeatedly been labelled "not fit for purpose". (ABC Kimberley: Dunja Karagic)She said more investment needed to be made in proactive diversionary programs in regional areas and rehabilitating offenders in the community.One example is the west Kimberley Wala Kooral-bi diversionary centre, which after an onslaught of delays, was set to welcome its first cohort earlier this year in April.However, the ABC has been unable to confirm whether the centre is operational after being unable to contact its facilitators.The WA government has committed more than $158 million to build a new youth detention facility in Perth, with a contractor appointed and onsite from last month.Has the targeted banning of alcohol been effective?The Banned Drinkers Register (BDR) was another measure brought in during Mr Papalia's tenure as Racing and Gaming minister which targeted excessive alcohol issues and related harm.The BDR bans people on the register from buying takeaway alcohol across the Kimberley, Pilbara and Goldfields regions, including the towns of Carnarvon and Gascoyne Junction.Limits to opening hours and the amount of alcohol residents can buy from bottle shops were also rolled out.Paul Papalia announces the expansion of the banned drinkers register to more regional locations. (ABC News: Dunja Karagic)Earlier this year, Mr Papalia said Derby and Broome had seen a 26 per cent drop in alcohol-related crime in the last 12 months, after restrictions were introduced, and family and domestic violence levels had dropped by similar amounts.Broome Shire president Chris Mitchell praised the former minister for his role in introducing the register.Mr Mitchell said there were ongoing concerns about alcohol-fuelled offending."We went to minister Papalia and worked with him for a substantial amount of time, introduced the banned drinkers register and it's worked fairly well," he said."It's a loss to the government [the resignation], but things will keep going, especially around alcoholism and social issues."The chairperson of Broome's only rehabilitation centre, Kathy Watson, supports the BDR but worries it "only targets Indigenous people" and areas with higher Indigenous populations.Kathy Watson says more wrap-around services are needed to tackle alcohol issues in the community. (ABC Kimberley: Erin Parke)"More education and awareness is needed," Ms Watson said."Alcohol has a large impact on lives with domestic violence and kids going without feeds."Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley president David Menzel previously called the BDR a "lazy approach" by the state government to "just ban things" without making efforts to address systemic issues.WA Attorney-General Tony Buti has been tapped on the shoulder to tackle the Corrective Services portfolio, with Aboriginal Affairs Minister Don Punch taking over the Racing and Gaming portfolio which introduced the BDR.These ministers inheriting the portfolios will now be responsible for some of the toughest, most complex issues that any politician can face. Youth crime, overflowing prisons, reducing alcohol harm - none of them are vote winners. But they will ultimately be judged on whether they deliver the lasting change the community is hoping for and critics saying is still lacking.