Public Works Committee: New Henley Beach Police Station

Adjourned debate on motion of Ms Digance:

That the 518^th report of the committee, entitled New Henley Beach Police Station, be noted.

(Continued from 17 June 2015.)

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (11:32): I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the Public Works Committee report on the Henley Beach Police Station. I know that, in due course, some of my colleagues will no doubt have some interesting words to say about the matter. Obviously any new infrastructure in the police portfolio is of significant interest to me as the shadow police minister. In a year when the Labor Party has shut down eight police stations, it is nice to see that they are at least trying to open one up, given the rhetoric that we have had to deal with at every election campaign.

In fact, as recently as last year's election, the Labor Party was happy to castigate and criticise the former Liberal government for, in the wake of the State Bank fiasco, allowing the police to shut down eight police stations in the period from 1993 to 2002. In 2015, in the last six weeks, eight more police stations have closed, and I think that goes to the character of the government, frankly. At any rate, the Henley Beach Police Station is on its way and I am glad that the Public Works Committee has had a chance to consider some of the matters to do with it.

I note that when the budget came out last week, the due date for completion of the Henley Beach Police Station was listed as June 2017. This also comes as a surprise, I imagine, to the member for Colton's constituents, because when he took it to the election as an election promise, it was the biggest spending proposal that the government took to the election in March 2014. The people of Colton were promised a new police station when? June 2016. In last year's budget papers, it was June 2016.

I look forward to the government explaining why there has been, in fact, a year's delay on the delivery of the Henley Beach Police Station. I think governments should say what they mean and mean what they say and, when they go to an election saying that something is going to happen, they should make every endeavour to ensure that it happens. If they cannot, if it is in fact unreasonable or unachievable to expect that June 2016 was ever possible, then the government has a duty to explain to the people of Colton why it told them they would have a new police station 12 months from now, rather than in two years time (just before the next election).

This is going to be a significant police station in that there are some unusual and fairly significant security measures being undertaken in its construction that are going to be of interest to local residents and, potentially, very important for the security of the officers who are serving in this facility. We will note with interest how that develops in the years ahead and look forward to its construction.

I hope that when the Henley Beach station is delivered for the community in the western suburbs and the police officers who are serving there, it does not have the same face as the Newton Police Station, the Hallett Cove Police Station, the Malvern Police Station, the other five police stations that were promised to the people of local electorates (mostly in marginal seats, you would not be surprised to find out) where they were opened by this Labor government and then subsequently shut just seven or eight years later.

The Hallett Cove Police Station was promised ahead of the 2006 election, opened in 2008 and now is closed in 2015. It had a seven-year lifespan. So, I hope the people of the western suburbs and the South Australian police are not confronted by the prospect that it might be opened in June 2017 only to be closed by the Labor government several weeks later because that is, of course—hopefully, for the people of South Australia's sake—all this Labor government will have left between the construction of this police station and a new and better government that will deliver far better things for the people of South Australia. With that, I support the motion.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (11:36): The member for Morialta gave a very enlightening contribution. I think members on both sides of the house are now better educated about how an election campaign is one way to get a new police station. I want to speak about the 518^th report of the committee regarding the upgrade of the Henley Beach Police Station, but it is not really an upgrade, it is a rebuild. I have quite a bit of familiarity with the Henley Beach Police Station because I used to frequent it as a lad, when I lived at Henley Beach. Yes, I did get my licence there; yes, I got my first defect there; and yes, I got my first defect off there.

The budget is $5.3 million, excluding GST. The police station has had a presence on Military Road for many years. It was built in the early sixties and is now going to be replaced with this new facility. The member for Morialta has raised his concerns that the project will be built late. It has been well documented that the reason this police station is being built is it was an election promise. I am sure the member for Colton would be thanking his lucky stars that this election promise was probably the reason he got the extra 80 votes, I think, that he needed to get across the line. So, good on him.

Mr Pengilly: And then he got dudded.

Mr WHETSTONE: And then he got slotted. That was the most disappointing part about it. He was a good minister. He got slotted but he got his police station and got re-elected. There are currently 52 staff working on the three-shift roster at the station. What the hearing did highlight were the concerns around the current station's functional efficiency, the out-of-date communications systems and the compromised secure car parking. I think what was realised in the hearing was that it has no car parking now and the new police station will have no car parking then, and that is obviously a concern.

Given the construction of the police station was a commitment to be completed by 2016 and is now going to be pushed back, as I believe, to 2017, I guess one would simply hope that to meet a government promise the deadline would have been completed on time and given the people of Colton that upgraded facility that it needs.

One of the disappointing aspects, as I have said, is the public car parking. It was very disappointing to note again that most often when people go to the police station it is under duress and to have to park your car around the corner and up the street is, in many ways, not a great outcome. But the upgrade is going ahead, albeit late, and it is a modern facility to address the issues that police are currently incurring in the operation of that station. Therefore, I commend the report to the house.

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (11:40): I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this debate: the member for Colton, the member for Morialta, and the member for Chaffey. I think there were a few similar themes presented in both the member for Colton and the member for Chaffey's presentations, so I thank you for that. I agree with the member for Chaffey, the excellent rendition we received from the member for Morialta was extensive, so thank you.

Mr Gardner interjecting:

Ms DIGANCE: I am stuttering! I would like to thank the hard work of the Public Works Committee and all of those associated with it: the executive officer, the administrative officer and all the witnesses who came before us. It was certainly an excellent project for the Public Works Committee to examine and we appreciated that opportunity. I commend the report to the house.

Motion carried.