Police Motorcycles

Mr BATTY (Bragg) (14:36): My question is to the Minister for Police. Will the new police motorcycles be fitted with dash cams? With leave, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr BATTY: It was reported last year that frontline officers were resorting to buying their own dash cams for use in police vehicles for their own safety.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer, Minister for Defence and Space Industries, Minister for Police) (14:36): This was discussed extensively last year when the. member for Bragg tried to promulgate this as an issue publicly. Frontline police do have cameras, body-worn cameras. That has been the most effective way of providing police with additional visual surveillance capability across their various policing tasks and, as we have discussed and as it has been advised to me by South Australia Police, some frontline service staff, including South Australian police, choose to have this. Some choose not to, given the vast array of other equipment that is provided, and that will remain the choice for people. We make sure that police have the operational equipment they need, as advised to us from South Australian Police.

God forbid we get into a situation where those opposite occupy the Treasury benches and they start trying to exercise the discretion which, in the Police Act, is only afforded to the police commissioner to make operational judgements. I know the member for Bragg is new to this place, I know he's new to the role, I know he's new to representative responsibility and is finding his way understanding the responsibilities of executive government, but we have legislation which determines who is responsible for doing what in the community. It might pay him to just read the first 10 clauses of the Police Act and it will be clear.

It will not be up to the neophyte member for Bragg to be telling the police commissioner how things should be done. He cannot seem to prosecute that within the South Australian Liberal Party; I would not expect him to have any success prosecuting it within South Australia Police.

Mr TEAGUE: Point of order; standing order 127(3). The Treasurer might have sat down, but it is clearly an extended reflection on a member. It's impermissible.

The SPEAKER: If the member feels he has a grievance to bring up on a personal reflection, he can make that point himself.