Police Staffing

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (15:06): Supplementary, sir: given the Premier's answer, does the Premier agree with Commissioner Grant Stevens, who advised the Budget and Finance Committee that, currently, SAPOL will be able to afford to recruit only 120 of the 313 officers and that it would require an additional $8 million per year in the SAPOL budget to achieve the 313 target?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (15:06): I am not going to canvass budget deliberations or the minutiae of the police budget in this forum. Suffice to say that it certainly is the case that the police commissioner will be in a position to be able to meet the election commitment that we made. That is certainly the understanding I have. I have met with the police commissioner personally and we have discussed this matter. In those personal discussions he has led me to believe that he will have no difficulty in meeting that target.