Grievance Debate

Police Recruitment

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (15:03): Labor's refusal to admit that it will not meet its 'recruit 300' police target is becoming a joke—it is past a joke. They promised we would have 300 more police officers. They are not delivering, and it is time for the minister and time for the government to own up. They say the first step on the road to recovery is to admit you have a problem, minister. Until you do that, until the government admits that it has a problem, that it is not going to meet its target, that it is not going to meet its promise on police numbers, how can we possibly have a reasonable and rational discussion about what sorts of services will be necessary in the future?

The facts are these. In 2010, there were 4,367 sworn police officers in South Australia, 36 community constables and 113 police cadets—a total of 4,516. Two weeks ago, in Budget and Finance Committee, the South Australia Police Director of Business Services, Denis Patriarca, identified that SAPOL's projected police numbers for 2017-18 are 4,421.1 sworn officers plus 36 community constables and 188 police cadets—a total of 4,645.1. Labor's promise at the 2010 election was for '300 more police on our streets over the next four years', and there was a net increase of 13 to bring it to 313 as a result of the inclusion of transit officers.

Delivery on this promise was delayed during the last term from 2014 to 2016 and, in their talking points at the time, their line was still clear. I am quoting from their internal talking points retrieved through FOI. They said, 'By 2016, there will be a total of 4,700 sworn officers on the beat.' Then in the 2013 budget the promise was delayed again, to 2018, and that is the promise Labor took to the last election.

In case anyone was in any doubt as to whether that promise included community constables and cadets, I went to the trouble of asking the minister during estimates last year. His answer could not have been clearer. He said: no, the expectation is that these would be sworn police officers, not community constables and not cadets. That is what Labor signed up to in 2010, that is what Labor signed up to in 2014 and that is what the people of South Australia bought, or thought they were buying, when they elected these people to parliament, these Labor candidates—sworn police officers to increase by 313, first by 2014, then 2016, then 2018: and that is what Labor put in writing to the various stakeholder groups who were asking about this promise.

So, where are we now? Between 2010 and 2018, sworn police officers are going to increase from 4,367 to 4,421—by 54, by a full 259 fewer than was promised by the Labor Party at the elections. Last year, the minister did change his mind—late in the year. He said later in the year in answer to a question that cadets and community constables would now be included in the count. Not content with breaking the promise by delaying from 2014 to 2016 to 2018, last year they broke it further by including cadets in the count. That means the increase is from 4,516 to 4,645, an increase of 129. Even taking it by this government's new preferred way of counting, they still fall 184 short.

Today, the minister comes in here and answers questions in the parliament. Asked whether he will admit that their promise is over and that it is in dead in the water, he says they are on track. He says they are on track to meet that promise. What a joke. The fact is that Labor promised the people of South Australia 313 more police officers on the beat, on the streets, and the truth is that promise will never happen. Whichever way the minister and the government spin it, they are not going to get anywhere near 313 more police, yet they continue to insult the intelligence of the South Australian people by insisting that they are on track.

He is like Monty Python's shopkeeper pretending that the dead parrot is still alive. He cannot admit this promise is now finished. It is not resting, it is not stunned, it is not tired after a good old squawk, shagged out after a long squawk. It is not 'pining for the fjords'. It has passed on. The truth is this promise is no more. It is an ex promise. This promise is deceased. It has ceased to be. It has expired and gone to meet its maker. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If you had not nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies, minister. 'The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead.' It is demised. This is an ex promise and it is time for the Weatherill Labor government to admit to it, own up to their faults and apologise to the people of South Australia.