POLICE LINE-UPS

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (14:45): My question is to the Deputy Premier. Can the minister inform the house about the government's efforts to cut red tape for police in relation to police line-ups?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:46): I thank the honourable member for her question. I know she has an interest in this because she is very keen, like all of us are on this side of the house, to assist SAPOL in doing the very important work they do for our community.

A key 2010 election promise made by this government was to reform the process of identifying people suspected of having committed crimes. A bill was introduced into this parliament by the government—I recall actually doing this myself—on 9 March 2011. This bill was completed on 6 July 2011. There were no amendments whatsoever moved by the opposition. The bill was opposed in total. It was totally opposed.

There were numerous briefings given to members of the opposition, in particular the Hon. Stephen Wade, who absorbs a great amount in briefings, but it does not seem to make much difference to his position. In any event, he absorbed an enormous amount of information from SAPOL and, I think, probably from PASA as well, plus leading academics in the area, who were supportive of this bill. But, what happened? Nothing. They opposed the bill. It was all to no avail.

Therefore, it was with some interest (and slight amusement) that I was presented with two press releases today. One of them (which I did recognise, because it was mine) was dated 9 March 2011. I will quote one short passage from it. It says:

Line-ups divert substantial police resources, often requiring up to 10 police officers and up to 60 police hours to arrange. The legislation, which honours a government election promise, will ensure that photo identification will be considered by the courts to be just as reliable as traditional line-ups.

The Hon. P. Caica: That's sensible.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Sensible. Members will not believe this, but I have got another one today. It is headed with the name of the Leader of the Opposition and the Hon. Stephen Wade, and it is on a Liberal Party headline. See if you can find any similarity between what I just read and this. I quote:

Traditional line-ups are time-consuming and costly.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Familiar? There's more. It gets better. It says:

Organising line-ups can take up to 10 police officers and up to 60 hours of police time, time that obviously could be better spent on other police activities. The bill seeks to amend the current legislation by removing—

This is great stuff. Anybody who wants to have a look at them, here they are, both of them. You blokes up there. I'll give you a copy later.

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister should not be discussing material.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: No, I had a moment. I am sorry. This government has consistently supported police through strengthening laws, upgrading police equipment and putting more officers on the beat. The opposition could have saved police, taxpayers, and all of us, a lot of time and resources over the last 18 months by simply supporting the government's bill instead of opposing it and then 18 months later introducing their own identical bill and press release. I hope that they will now see the light and support other measures in this space before the parliament instead of opposing them. In the end, building a temporary coalition with Independents in the other place is no substitute for good policy.