SOUTH AUSTRALIA POLICE

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (15:42): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier inform the house about the opening of the Police Association annual conference?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (15:43): As I have done throughout my time as Premier, this morning, I was proud to officially open the South Australian Police Association's annual conference. In fact, it was the 17^th occasion that I have addressed the association conference, either as premier or as leader of the opposition.

In my final address to the association, I took the opportunity to reiterate the Labor government's commitment to the police and to public safety. From the day our government came to office, we have unashamedly maintained our commitment to fighting crime, particularly violent crime, and to trying to tilt the balance of our criminal justice system in the favour of victims, rather than criminals.

We now have more than 4,400 sworn police officers in South Australia, which is the highest rate of police per capita of any Australian state. We have also increased the police budget to $722 million for the current financial year, which represents a 96 per cent increase in what was being spent on police by our predecessors.

We have invested heavily in new infrastructure with 17 new police stations opened since 2002. In addition, we have undertaken major upgrades of several metropolitan stations. The government has built the new $41 million SAPOL headquarters in Angas Street and we are currently completing the new $53 million police academy.

We have ensured our hardworking officers have access to the latest technology to help them carry out their work more efficiently and more safely. Our efforts are working. SAPOL figures show that since we came to office we have seen a decline in victim reported crime of more than 36 per cent. It has been going down every year, whilst it went up every year that you were in office—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —because you were soft on crime and you were soft on the causes of crime. What does a 36 per cent reduction in crime mean? That is around 75,000 fewer crimes committed per year.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: More than 200 fewer crimes every day. 75,000 fewer crimes committed per year, 200 fewer crimes every day than when we were elected. You don't like it; you fought virtually every measure to toughen up the criminal law and that is why you don't like the fact that your warnings that being tough on law and order would not result in one jot reduction proved to be wrong.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Over the past 9½ years we have also built the sort of strong legislative framework that modern day police require to detect and tackle crime. We have introduced more than 100 new laws and we have increased and toughened up many more to keep pace with the changing nature of crime and to ensure that our police on the front line have every tool at their disposal to keep the public safe.

We have also had the courage to overrule the Parole Board recommendations and to intervene in cases when it was clear that justice was not being done. The then attorney-general intervened in the case of Paul Nemer, an action for which we have been bitterly criticised by some sections of the legal community, and as recently as the previous parliamentary sitting week.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Croydon!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: I was stunned to hear the Deputy Leader of the Opposition speculate in a grievance in this place last month. This is what he said:

Did Paul Nemer go to gaol because of his offence, or did he go to gaol because the government of the day, the premier of the day, decided that it would win votes?

What an outrageous slur on the Supreme Court of South Australia, on the Solicitor-General of South Australia and indeed the High Court of Australia. Even more so, what an incredible slur on South Australians who were incensed by the inadequacy of the original penalty. The deputy leader then went on to say:

I also take no pleasure in living a state where people are put in gaol on a political whim.

He went on to say:

We still have prisoners in gaol who, but for decisions that are taken in secret…would have been released under our parole system.

In a flurry of rhetoric the deputy leader suggests that we may be living in a state that has 'political prisoners'.

Mr Williams: Hear, hear!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: He says, 'Hear, hear.' I make no apologies for the government's stance in toughening parole conditions and the power of the state's Parole Board. We were the first cabinet, the first government, to end the rubber-stamping of the board's recommendations for the release of murderers. Since 2005—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Yes; it is called the public interest and public safety. Since 2005—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: If you want to line up behind McBride, go ahead and do so. Since 2005 our government has, when it is considered necessary in the public interest, taken a different view to the Parole Board and refused to grant parole to eight convicted murderers serving life sentences. This morning at the association's annual conference opening, I invited the Leader of the Opposition, who was also there, to explain which of the following her party believes are being unjustly held as 'political prisoners'.

For the benefit of the deputy leader—because he would not find this when he is reading James Thurber—a political prisoner is someone who is imprisoned unjustly for their political or religious views.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order, member for Bragg.

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order: as you would be aware, the correctional services bill, which covers the parole reforms, is currently before the parliament. It is in committee stage, and I think we will probably be looking towards completion tomorrow. After that is completed, then the Premier, or any other member, will be at liberty to raise the reforms.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. The question was very broad-reaching and so was the answer.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: You don't want me to read out the list of those people that you would like to let out of gaol. You don't me to read out the list of those people and what they did, because you would rather people believe that these soft, cuddly, political—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —prisoners are being held unfairly.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Therefore—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: The Nelson Mandelas of Mobilong.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: That's right. So who would the Liberals release of our so-called political prisoners? Stephen Wayne McBride, who shot dead the proprietor of a country post office during a robbery, attempted to murder a woman bus driver, and maliciously winded and disfigured another woman in her own home when he attacked her with a knife? James Beauregard-Smith, convicted of a murder but released on parole in 1994 before being convicted of rape and indecent assault offences against a young woman later that very year?

James David Watson, who brutally sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl before strangling her to death and concealing her body in a drain? David Andrew Miller, who repeatedly stabbed his girlfriend, left her for dead and then returned to cut her throat and strangle her? James Patrick Earley, who fired a shotgun at point-blank range into the chest of a drinking companion? Jonathan Peter Bakewell, convicted of the murder of a 20-year-old girl in the Northern Territory and transferred to prison here in 2004? Or perhaps it is someone else. Bevan Spencer von Einem, who completed his nonparole period in 2007 and who we have repeatedly maintained would never be released under a Labor government?

Anyone who seriously believes that offenders such as these are being held in prison as part of some secret government political conspiracy are either dangerously misinformed or seriously out of touch. For anyone, especially a senior member of parliament, to refer to these offenders as political prisoners is an affront not just to the victims of their heinous crimes but to all victims. To put these criminals in the same company as real political prisoners, the likes of Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi, defies common sense as well as public decency.

I just want to say this: I have no regret and make no apology for refusing to release dangerous criminals—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —into the community. Our government has listened to the victims of crime who challenged court decisions they considered inadequate and insensitive. We were the first state to create an independent Office for the Commissioner of Victims Rights, and we gave victim of crime advocates the legal right to make victim impact submissions to court in cases that had resulted in the victim's death or permanent incapacity. So, you pick who you side with. If you believe that those people are political prisoners—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —then have the guts—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for MacKillop!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —have the honesty—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Equality before the law.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Bragg!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Have the guts, and go out there on the front steps and tell the people of South Australia that, in the unlikely case that you are elected to government, you are going to release that line-up, the people that you would prefer to be on their side, whilst we are on the side—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —of ordinary, decent South Australians.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for MacKillop!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! It's going to be a long day.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for MacKillop, will you behave? The Leader of the Opposition.