South Australia Police

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:41): Supplementary: in light of that response, minister, would you consider encouraging that same sort of collaborative work to be done with the equal opportunity commissioner, looking for or identifying the extent of any pockets of racist behaviour in the police force and measures to address them?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General) (14:42): I thank the member for the question. The situation is that Equal Opportunity has a standing contract to undertake work for the South Australian police to monitor the implementation of recommendations that were made arising out of that initial investigation. You might recall a number of years ago—I think it was about 2016—that the police commissioner made a public statement acknowledging that there were clearly some systemic concerns in relation to culture and conduct in the police force and undertook to take certain steps to remedy that, including racial misconduct matters.

As a result of that, the equal opportunity commissioner has negotiated a continued contract to monitor that. She provides regular reports of that. There has been publication of a recent matter that was raised, where a former employee of the police left the force and has made complaints in support of her application for compensation that suggests that she was in some way treated badly, if I can put it as kindly as that, in the description that was made in the public arena in respect of her association with a person who was of Aboriginal descent. She has obviously made some public statements about that, but it forms the basis of legal proceedings seeking compensation.

That is a matter about which I propose to seek an update when I next meet with the equal opportunity commissioner, but she has given me regular reports. I think probably some of them are even available on her website, but I will check on that. She is tasked with the direct responsibility to ensure that the implementation, including training, and establishment of a cultural officer within the police force, and things of that nature, are not only happening but that there is marked recorded advance in relation to those recommendations. I will make some further inquiries as to what reports are available publicly, but I thank the member for her question.