Police Station Opening Hours

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (15:05): My question is to the Minister for Police. Can the minister please update the house on the extended opening hours of police stations, including in my electorate of Morphett?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:05): I thank the member for Morphett for his very important question—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —and note the great interest in this house about the extended police station opening hours—and what a great policy it has been from our government, after those on the other side shut the police stations in a couple of key areas, namely, the member for Morphett's electorate, Glenelg. As of 1 November, the extended hours are back up and running again for the summer months. As the warmer weather kicks in, the tourists flow down and it's a buzz along Jetty Road, too. I commend the member for Morphett for his wonderful work there.

Of course, as well as in Norwood, with the Norwood Police Station, and also the Henley Beach Police Station, I know that the people in the member for Colton's electorate are very excited about the increased public safety and our focus on public safety and security here in South Australia. I commend the member for Morphett again for the great work that he has done there.

We note that in the last budget the Marshall Liberal government put $52 million into the safety and security of South Australia—that's how important we value keeping people safe in this state—with $16.5 million going into SAPOL's communications centre in the CBD. This is something that the police commissioner was very concerned about and under the previous government had been left to run down.

Had we been in a situation whereby there was an earthquake in South Australia, or a major disaster, there was the potential for that building and the insides of that building to fall down and for the communications centre to be rendered useless. So to make sure that we have that upgraded and that facility available in a time of need is a very big win for SAPOL and also for all the people of South Australia.

I have talked before in this place about the $9.4 million that we put into the rapid response capability. This is a capability within SAPOL that they will now have at their disposal, that the commissioner will have this at his disposal. It is a middle tier. We have the STAR Group at the top end, we have police on the beat at the bottom, and in the middle now we will have this rapid response capability to make sure we are keeping South Australians safe. I think we are the last mainland state to implement this capability—again, ignored by those opposite—but we are very happy to be rolling that out to increase the safety and security element of South Australia.

So $7.7 million has been allocated to replacing the ageing Expiation Notice Branch system—again, a computer system that was allowed to run down and very much needed to be upgraded. It is a big investment in our state and we are very happy to be doing that. The other point, as part of this $52 million, is the district policing model mark 2. There were two phases to this—phase 1 and phase 2. We have put $18.6 million into implementing stage 2, which is a very important part to make sure that the whole district policing model works as efficiently as planned. I know that the commissioner is very excited about this.

DPM1 has rolled out and has been very well received out in the community, and now the commissioner wants to roll out part 2. This will ensure that we have police on the beat proactively policing to keep the people of South Australia safe. The way the model was designed for these two things to work together, the police commissioner has taken me through the process and is really keen to see that rolled out and work together. Again, that was unfunded from the previous government so we've had to pick up the pieces there.

We are very confident and comfortable and very happy that we have been able to put this money into policing here in South Australia because this government has been very focused on the safety and security of South Australians. We know how important that is. We know South Australians are very focused on making sure that we deliver that. We may not be making a big fanfare or a big song and dance about everything we're doing, but what we are doing is delivering. We are delivering for the people of South Australia, and $52 million says exactly that.