Renmark Police Station

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:03): Do you deem it acceptable for a community of 8,500 in the Renmark area that the Renmark Police Station does operate without administration staff?

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Health, Minister Assisting the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (15:03): Once again, whenever you hear something from the opposition, sometimes you actually need to check the facts in terms of what the propositions that have been put to you are. So, rather than respond to a proposition that has been put to me in the question, what I would much rather do is check the facts that have been put to me in terms of that question and check what the resources are in terms of the Renmark Police Station.

But again I refer to the fact that we are employing and training at the moment 313 extra police across South Australia, and this is the state with the highest number of police per capita out on the beat of any state in Australia. That is a credit to the investment that this government has made in the police and a credit to the Premier and Treasurer for their decision to invest in our police force and make sure that the police commissioner has the resources they need to invest extra police across the community and make sure that they are out on the beat, protecting the people of South Australia.

When you look at us compared to the other states in the country, clearly we have more police in this state versus other states per capita. That is something that I think the community are very pleased to know, that they have those police. We have some of the highest respect and satisfaction ratings in terms of police, in terms of their professionalism, of any state in the whole country. That is an absolute credit to them. I think what would be a detriment to that is if you had a police minister who started issuing directions to the police—for example, should they have to send drug-sniffing dogs into public high schools.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: You send that—

The SPEAKER: The member for Bright is called to order.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —as a direction to the police commissioner, I think that would be very—

The SPEAKER: Point of order.

Mr GARDNER: The minister is well away from the substance of the question, which is about whether a town the size of Renmark—

The SPEAKER: He may be a bit prolix, but he is taking us through to tea.

Mr GARDNER: He's done it.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: I am happy to chase up the details and come back to the member.