House of Assembly: Thursday, October 16, 2014

Contents

Domestic Violence

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (14:41): My question is to the Premier and it relates to the government's response to recommendation 9 of the coronial investigation, which reads:

…when a domestic violence victim makes a report at a police station, they are afforded an opportunity of privacy in an interview room;

Given that the outlined response provides no changes to the limited infrastructure in SA's 138 operational police stations, why is the government claiming that they have accepted this recommendation when to do so would require the provision of a private interview room in each of those stations?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:42): I thank the honourable member for his question. My understanding is that what police will do is they will give a person a private space to have an interview. They are committed to doing that and, as the member has identified, it will vary from station to station because of the way the—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: If you will let me finish. They will clearly not interview people in a public place. So, they will take whatever action is required to give that person privacy and that will vary from station to station. It will depend on the circumstances at the time. What I can say is that the police are committed to making sure that any domestic violence report is handled in a private way.