POLICE HOUSING

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:30): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police a question regarding regional police housing.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: I was recently fortunate enough to attend the state AGM of the South Australian Police Association. A number of police officers raised with me the incredibly important issue of subsidised housing to attract police officers back to country South Australia. On a number of occasions over the past 12 months I have raised with the minister the lack of police numbers in regional South Australia. It was brought to my attention that the Port Pirie police station is now 27 per cent down on complement. Given that the minister has had a more than adequate amount of time to consider police housing subsidies, what action is he about to take to ensure that we can get police back into country South Australia?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (15:31): At the annual general meeting of the Police Association, which the honourable member attended, he would have been aware that, when the Treasurer announced the new enterprise bargaining offer the government had made, a number of elements in that new remuneration package for police were specifically designed to make it more attractive to get more police into hard to fill positions.

As I understand it, while I accept that the issue of accommodation is important and very significant, by agreement that was not part of the enterprise bargaining that took place. Nevertheless, I concede that it is an important issue, and it is something the government will be looking at separately. In relation to some of the hardest to staff areas of all, such as the APY lands, with some significant assistance from the commonwealth government—which I have acknowledged in this place—we will be able to provide some new housing for police officers in Amata and Pukatja. Also, because of the fire in which the police station was burnt down in Yalata, we will obviously be replacing some housing there and looking at upgrading it.

More generally, yes; police housing is important. The government is addressing it in a number of other ways through enterprise bargaining to make it more attractive for police officers to go to hard to fill stations, and we will be looking at police housing. It is actually in the portfolio of one of my colleagues, but I assure the honourable member who asked the question that I will be doing everything possible to ensure that we improve to the maximum extent we can the attractiveness of police housing in remote and hard to fill locations.