Police Recruitment

Mr TELFER (Flinders) (14:31): My question is to the Minister for Police. Have any overseas recruits applied to SAPOL, and, if so, how many have been accepted into the training program?

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS (Cheltenham—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (14:31): I am very pleased to let the member know that there has been a very high number of people who have applied to be members of SAPOL; in fact, since the federal government approved our visa arrangements in late 2023, we have had over a hundred applications. We will, very soon, be able to start transitioning those applications into training.

Of course, it takes some time for overseas members, potential recruits, to move to Australia. The good news is that the training courses for international recruits—UK recruits, New Zealand recruits—are a much shorter course than the traditional nine months at the Police Academy for new South Australian or Australian recruits. That is because with international recruits we are targeting experienced police, police who have a wealth of experience, who know exactly what it takes to be a police officer.

Much to my genuine, probably, surprise at times has been the quick and overwhelming response that we have had through our pretty light touch in the early days, but now about to be escalated quite considerably, overseas recruitment. The reason that this is so important is that overseas recruits give us the ability as SAPOL—as it has and as it is with a number of other government agencies, including SA Health, where we as a government are committed to delivering extra staff—to provide support for the people on the frontline and to do it as quickly as possible.

The difference between us and those opposite is that we will actually fund the efforts to do that. We can't expect our police to just go out and continue to do the great work they do. We had a discussion before, which touched on what the Premier did around COVID, and the employment rate. But during the COVID years we asked so much of our police, but then coming out of COVID there was no plan to actually support them getting recruits through the door. We have had recruits who have applied to be police here in South Australia.

Mr Telfer: Is it a hundred coming or how many?

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Flinders, you have asked your question. The minister is on his feet. You are warned.

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: I will probably have to try to forgive the member for this. You don't apply for a job and then be given that job the next day. There is a process.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: So we are—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: The member interjects and says how many—

The SPEAKER: You will not respond to interjections, minister.

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: He hasn't listened for the last three minutes of my answer, where I indicated there have been over 100 applications. These are 100 applications from international recruits. We look forward to a very high number of those—I won't say all of those because the reality is that not every person who applies for a job, not everyone who applies to be a police officer, not everyone who applies for other professions will be ultimately successful.

The really good thing about our international recruitment efforts is that people who are applying for these roles know exactly what it takes to be a police officer. They've got experience doing that and what they are really keen to do and what they are really eager to do is to pick up that great profession and do it in this great place that we call home here in South Australia.