Automatic Vehicle Location Technology

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:12): My question is to the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services. Can the minister update the house on the rollout of automatic vehicle location technology for our emergency services agencies?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (15:12): I thank the member for Chaffey for the question. I acknowledge his very strong interest in the emergency services. It's been a real pleasure to visit the Riverland in recent times, areas like Paringa, Renmark and Berri, and visit some of these emergency services volunteers who do an outstanding job protecting our state.

As we know, today has been a game-changing day with the announcement of this new contract to unveil automatic vehicle location right across the state. We know that South Australia's dedicated CFS volunteers are certainly ramping up their preparations for the season ahead. Although we hope that the hours and hours of firefighting training they do don’t have to be put into practice necessarily, we know that they will be very well prepared to protect lives and property come this bushfire season.

Some exciting news we have heard this week is that the vendor has now been selected for the rollout of this AVL technology, the company being Netstar. This is a very significant step forward in the rollout of this technology.

Mr ODENWALDER: Point of order, sir.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Notably, this technology has been around—

The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat. The member for Elizabeth rises on a point of order.

Mr ODENWALDER: All of this information the minister is providing to the house is publicly available on the Premier's website.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Lee rises on the point of order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I do. Further to the member for Elizabeth's point of order, it was indeed the member for Hartley who repeatedly raised this point of order, and former Speaker Mr Atkinson ruled in his favour.

The SPEAKER: Order! There's no point of order and the member for Lee is warned for a second time. On the point of order, the minister will, in addressing the house, provide information to the house that is appropriately updating the house, and I expect that that will go beyond what information is already in the public domain. The minister has the call.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: It's worth noting that this technology has been around since 2012. However, former ministers, former governments, haven't seen fit to apply this technology to our CFS, which is absolutely outrageous because we know that it is absolutely essential technology for our CFS. There was a very successful trial for this technology. It was run in myriad locations right across our state—Kangaroo Island, the West Coast, the Adelaide Hills, the South-East. It is very important that we battle-test this technology. It's really important that we test this technology to make sure that it can withstand the toughest of conditions in our state, especially in areas where service isn't the best.

I am proud to say that Netstar are going to deliver an absolutely outstanding capability and we are really looking forward to rolling that out. We know that this will be unveiled in over 1,400 vehicles right across the state—the MFS, CFS, SES—through DEW and the forestry area as well. AVL was put to the test in the trial and, as I said, it's going to be—

Mr Odenwalder: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat for a moment. The member for Elizabeth rises.

Mr ODENWALDER: Point of order, sir: the minister is deliberately ignoring your ruling. He is continually referring to information which is on the public record. I haven't heard anything new. I am reading along.

The SPEAKER: I might say, I was both listening carefully to the minister and watching carefully and, to a substantial extent, I was impressed by the extent of the minister providing his answer without reference to notes. If there is any particular matter that the member for Elizabeth complains of in this regard—he has brought to attention one particular source of information in the public domain—I again remind the minister of the need to address the house in accordance with standing orders. The minister has the call.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: I am mindful of the Independents' time here. I will wrap up by saying that it is a significant step forward and we are looking forward to unveiling and rolling out this technology in the lead-up to the next bushfire season.