COVID-19 State Government Response

Ms LUETHEN (King) (14:31): My question is to the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is supporting our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by keeping South Australians safe and strong?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (14:32): I acknowledge the member for King and her passion in this area. As we know, there is a clear link between being strong on health and strong in the economy.

South Australians are certainly grateful for SA Police's contribution to our community thus far. South Australia Police's performance during COVID-19 has been absolutely outstanding in what has been a year of much uncertainty and somewhat unpredictable, as we know. SA Police have risen to the challenge. They have done an outstanding job, and it's one of the reasons why business and consumer confidence continue to do so well in this state. South Australia is the envy of the world because of how we have handled the pandemic, and SA Police have done a marvellous job.

As a government, we have ensured that SAPOL at all stages have had various resources and facilities to keep South Australians safe and also business doors open as much as possible. In our last budget, we saw an investment of over $93 million. We saw, for example, an additional $21 million, where there was recruiting of 72 cadets and 54 protective security officers and also SES volunteers, who were able to help out and assist with COVID-19 operations.

In the recent RoGS 2021 (Report on Government Services), we saw that South Australia actually had the second highest rate of operational police per person in the nation, at 310 operational staff per 100,000 people. We also saw that South Australians had the highest satisfaction with their police services from right across the country. SA Police was the first in the nation for satisfaction with services provided by its police, at 83 per cent. SA Police was also first in the nation for community perception of police professionalism, at 89.5 per cent.

When we came into government in March 2018, we inherited over $110 million in cuts to the SAPOL budget from the former government. Since coming into government, we have provided South Australia Police with more than $170 million in extra funding. As minister, I have been absolutely privileged and honoured to be able to meet many of the South Australian police who have kept us safe across the state, from right across the state. I am so impressed by their commitment.

Our government is providing unprecedented cash injections of over $800,000 to futureproof Crime Stoppers. We are the first South Australian government to directly fund Crime Stoppers. We have also invested over $8½ million in new personal issue high-performance vests to make sure that we can protect those who protect us, making sure that they are resistant to attacks involving edged weapons and also firearms.

We are delivering over $34 million in the transformation of South Australia Police's mobile workforce capability to upgrade key operation systems and to buy new tech, and also to deliver more remote connectivity as well, to increase capability of all officers right across the state. Our government is committed to protecting those who protect us and, in turn, that will ensure that we continue to protect our economy, ensure business confidence and consumer confidence and that that continues to grow.