DNA TECHNOLOGY

Mr RAU (Enfield) (14:34): Can the Attorney-General inform the house how recent advances in DNA technology are being applied in South Australia and the law and order benefits they bring?

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:35): Members may recall that in the 2007-08 budget the government increased funding for Forensic Science SA. Many honourable members would be aware that, when it comes to crime, DNA technology provides our police with a useful tool to assist in solving crimes, both current and those committed in the distant past. Indeed, those who watch the current crop of CSI genre television programs might recall these latter cases as cold cases. Within Forensic Science SA we have many of those services, although we are not able to compete with their television colleagues who solve every crime within the mandatory 60 minutes.

Forensic Science SA does a sterling job in this important and ever expanding area of technology. Within Forensic Science SA DNA analysis is carried out by what is termed the Biology Group. This group of 40 administrative, technical and scientific staff all contribute to the critical areas of criminal case work, database reference analysis, intelligence processing, IT development and the presentation of evidence within the justice system.

In the recent budget DNA services received an increase in funding of $1.4 million, and I can tell the house that this money is well spent and the results are already obvious. Enhanced by the provisions of the Criminal Law Forensic Procedures Act 2007, which was enacted in May, our DNA database is rapidly expanding. Last month, South Australia began participation in the national crime investigation DNA database and we now have 28,820 DNA profiles on the system.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Well, it is true that the Premier and I did have our DNA samples taken. I am not sure, though, that they were uploaded on to the database at that time.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: I thought I spoke very well; they did.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Well, the Russian language parts were, yes. Of course, DNA technology is of most use to our police, and Forensic Science SA has already issued 8,000 match reports. A match report, as the member for Bragg would know, is where the database matches DNA samples into a group, that is, matching a sample to a particular person or to a particular scene; I mean, Bevan Spencer von Einem, for example, for the benefit of the member for Bragg. In addition to work in our state, Forensic Science SA has also reported 1,322 interstate links to SAPOL for investigation. These are matches that could apply to persons or crime scenes interstate.

I think the best example of where we are heading with this technology can be seen from an incident that occurred late last month. Police from the Sexual Crime Investigation Branch arrested a 21 year old man and charged him with 10 counts of rape, and other offences. These offences occurred in 2003, so arguably the conventional investigating trail was well and truly cold. Such are the benefits of DNA technology to our state, and it is a great pity that the attorney-general of blessed memory, the Hon. K.T. Griffin, was so cautious and unwilling to use this technology to the full extent.

So, through the resources of Forensic Science SA, DNA analysis will remain an important tool in delivering justice, and an integral part of the Rann government's tough on crime approach.