POLICE RESOURCES

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:34): I have a supplementary question arising out of the minister's reply The minister mentioned the attrition rate. Will he explain why the attrition rate is increasing?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (14:35): The attrition rate does vary from year to year. If one looks at some years, you might get 160 or 170 police officers retiring; I think it was higher the previous year. I am not sure that it has risen in the past year.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: I do not believe that is the case, but I will check the figures. One might suggest that there are several reasons for it, if it is going up—and I do not concede that it is. Given the highly mobile workforce and labour shortages around the country where all workers are in short supply, it would not surprise me in the least if there was more mobility amongst the labour force because of the higher level of employment we have in this country and this state.

We now have record employment in this state. Inevitably, a police officer will have the opportunity to move into other occupations—which might not have been the case some years ago. Also, we have an issue with the ageing of the workforce. I am told the median age of police officers is less than that of people in other sectors of the public sector workforce, but it is an issue with which we will have to deal over the coming decade. Any variation in the attrition rate is accounted for by the Commissioner in setting out recruitment targets for the following year. Our commitment is for a net increase of 100 per year over four years—which is an increase of 400.