Fare Evasion

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:52): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. How has the government continued to address the issue of fare evasion throughout our public transport network?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister Assisting the Minister for Planning, Minister Assisting the Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (14:52): I thank the member for Kaurna for his question. I know he has a keen interest in this topic. As some members would be aware, particularly from feedback from their constituents—I know I have had a lot of correspondence from a few members in the house, the member for Mitchell included, about fare evasion—those who do not pay their way on public transport erode confidence in the network for all commuters. That is why the government has continued to place a high priority on reducing the instances of fare evasion through increased compliance activities and better education of people using our public transport system.

In the last two financial years, our compliance enforcement activities have increased, with 10,691 incidents of fare evasion being detected and forwarded for prosecution between July 2012 and June 2014. This compares to 5,384 incidents forwarded for prosecution in the two prior financial years between July 2010 and June 2012. This is nearly a 100 per cent increase between these two periods. These results are a direct impact of more transit police being recruited, effective policing strategies, and increased joint operations between the transit police and the transport department's passenger service assistants (PSA).

As I have already reported to the house, a series of major targeted operations were undertaken in July this year, with 24 operations conducted by transit police and PSAs across the network. I am pleased to report to the house that these targeted strategies, informed by intelligence from transit police, resulted in 767 expiations for evading fares. This has resulted in over $168,000 in fines to these fare evaders alone; revenue which can contribute to our public transport system for the benefit of all commuters.

In the months following July, department officials and transit police have continued to target key areas of concern and increase their visibility on the network; in particular, an increasing effort on establishing a visible police presence on bus services to complement activities on the rail network.

In August and September this year, another 746 incidents were detected and, again, forwarded for prosecution after over 29,000 bus tickets and over 76,000 train and tram tickets were checked in a sweep of operations. The government makes no apologies for increasing our efforts so that commuters who do the right thing and pay their way on our network are not disadvantaged by those who aren't doing the right thing.

This year, I have had the opportunity to travel on the rail network with our transit police during a regular Saturday night shift and speak directly to the officers who deal with these issues each and every day. They have highlighted their concerns to me, not only regarding fare evasion but also around graffiti prevention, substance abuse and antisocial behaviour both on and around our public transport infrastructure.

Together with a new chief inspector who took charge of the transit services branch earlier this year, transit police have placed a focus on highly visible, uniformed officers travelling with commuters to prevent and deter, let alone enforce, fare evasion as or even before it occurs. Crime prevention initiatives such as these reduce the cost and burden to the community in the areas of compliance, enforcement and prosecution and ensure that the support and confidence of the general public are maintained across our public transport network. As the government continues our record investment in public transport, we will continue to invest in initiatives to reduce fare evasion.

The SPEAKER: The member for Colton.