House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Police Recruitment Police Recruitment Mr ODENWALDER House of Assembly Elizabeth Police Recruitment Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (14:25): My question is to the Minister for Police. Can the minister update the house on the recruitment of South Australian police officers? The Hon. B.I. BOYER House of Assembly Wright Minister for Education, Training and Skills Minister for Police Police Recruitment The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills, Minister for Police) (14:25): I thank the member for Elizabeth for this excellent question and note, of course, that as a former sworn officer himself he has taken a huge interest in his parliamentary career in all matters to do with SAPOL and law enforcement and knows very well, too, what we need to do to make sure policing remains a career of choice in South Australia. It is a pleasure to be on my feet today to be able to give the house an update on how those recruitment efforts are going. The most recent budget handed down by the former Treasurer saw a record amount of money allocated to SA Police: more than $260 million in initiatives to better protect and serve the community across a whole range of different areas, including the funding of additional officers, which is a very important commitment for our state and one that is ongoing, the improvement of amenity at police stations and the modernising of equipment. Just last week I had the pleasure of going to Netley and speaking with officers from STAR Group and the SRS. I have to say, it was very useful for me to actually hear firsthand from those police officers who will be using the new firearms and the new equipment about why it is important to them and why this investment by the Malinauskas Labor government has been so important and is so welcomed by SAPOL. We have allocated $172 million over six years for the 326 new sworn officers, which will reach a target of 5,000 sworn officers in South Australia. This will give SAPOL the ability to respond more quickly. When we put that side-by-side with the commitment we have made around getting sworn officers out from behind desks where we can have the civilianisation of the workforce, that also improves the ability of SAPOL to respond. It improves SAPOL's reach into the regions as well, which I know everyone in this place and many opposite would agree is a very, very important initiative that the government is pursuing. But today I thought I would give an update on how we are going specifically in terms of that big commitment we have made to grow sworn police numbers in South Australia by 326. I have some very useful data which I will be very pleased to share with the house. I am sure the shadow minister and the Leader of the Opposition, the former police minister in this state, will be very interested to hear how our efforts are going and growing in terms of actually having those applications for SAPOL, which we have seen in years gone past have been quite stagnant. In fact, in 2018-19 the number of applications for SAPOL was 922. There were 922 applications back in 2018-19. Just last week I was able to release data that showed what our application numbers have risen to across the last three years. I am sure this will be of great interest to everyone in this place. In 2022-23 there were 2,250 applications, up from 922 in 2028-19. I have broken this down for Patto. I have broken it down into small— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Members on my left will come to order. I can't hear the minister's response. The Hon. B.I. BOYER House of Assembly Wright Minister for Education, Training and Skills Minister for Police The Hon. B.I. BOYER: In 2023-24 it jumped again to 2,394 applications and then most pleasingly, in 2024-25 there were 3,050 applications to SAPOL. Let's compare 922, back when those opposite were in government and the Leader of the Opposition was the police minister, to applications now at 3,050. Members interjecting: The Hon. B.I. BOYER House of Assembly Wright Minister for Education, Training and Skills Minister for Police The Hon. B.I. BOYER: They don't like it, of course, because it shows how little they did in their time in government, but I am proud to be the minister in a government that is delivering on its commitment when it comes to law and order.