POLICE, COOBER PEDY

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:57): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police a question about policing in Coober Pedy.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: Members will be aware that I have raised the issue of policing in Coober Pedy a number of times. However, as with the matter of semi-automatic handguns and tasers for police, I will continue to persist until I get a result.

I recently met with community leaders from Coober Pedy. The Coober Pedy community is despairing about the lack of 24-hour police duty and, in fact, their police service generally. As the last police officer finishes work on the afternoon shift, the phone is diverted to the Port Augusta police, more than 500 kilometres away. If one is to ring after the phone is diverted, the Port Augusta police are very reluctant to call anybody out from Coober Pedy. Sadly, the villains and troublemakers are all too aware of this.

It was also reported to me that sometimes when officers are called out of the Coober Pedy police station and the station has been left unattended, the phone has been switched through to Port Augusta as early as 5pm. I am told that this happens when the station in short-staffed, which is (reportedly) the majority of the time. I am also told that, when the police minister is contacted with these concerns, he reports back that the number of these reports is diminishing and quotes statistics.

My information is that this is because many in the local community have almost given up on hoping for a solution and see no point in contacting police because there is simply no-one available to help them. If one were to think that instances in the community were diminishing, given the increased traffic from the lands through Coober Pedy, then they are dreaming. I was there last week and witnessed it for myself. My question is: will the minister, as a matter of urgency, revisit the issue of a 24-hour police service in Coober Pedy?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (16:00): The allocation of police officers is, under law in the Police Act, a matter for the Police Commissioner. However, I have certainly raised with him the situation at Coober Pedy. I know the Commissioner is aware of it and is keeping it under watch. There are probably many parts of the state that would like additional police officers, additional doctors, nurses, teachers and other public servants. However it is a bit rich from a party which went to the last election saying that it was going to cut the number of public servants by 4,000 to then—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well we talk about the police, but we have members opposite who want them everywhere. The former minister opposite has just interjected, but a couple of years ago the shadow minister said there should have been a lot more officers in Hindley Street, and the member for Flinders wants more over on Eyre peninsula. The fact is that this government has delivered record numbers of police, and every month or two we are turning out more officers through the police academy and building up the numbers. In addition, under this government an enterprise bargaining agreement has been successfully negotiated with the Police Association that will improve the means of the police to attract police officers to these harder to fill stations.

This government has done everything it can to try to attract more police officers to the more remote parts of the state. Of course, we are in a situation where there is record employment and record low unemployment within the state, and that has an impact on public servants—including police—as it does everywhere else. This government does not apologise—far from it—for creating a situation where we have the highest levels of employment in this state's history, and historically low levels of unemployment, but we have taken a number of steps which will enable improvement of facilities in remote parts of this state.

I know that the Police Commissioner will look at Coober Pedy, which I have visited on a number of occasions. I know that from time to time there are problems in that community; they generally tend to be seasonal, because that is the nature of the particular issues. However, it ill behoves members of the opposition—in view of their record and of the policies we saw in practice during their eight years, as well as those they offered at the last election—to try to attack this government for insufficient resources. The evidence is clearly to the contrary.