Question Time

POLICE, COOBER PEDY

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:22): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police a question in relation to a matter that was raised yesterday: Coober Pedy policing.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Yesterday, my colleague, the Hon. Terry Stephens, raised some issues in relation to 24-hour policing. It is interesting and timely that I have had some correspondence from a resident of Coober Pedy. When I thought the minister would be visiting Coober Pedy this weekend for the Property Council's Invest SA conference, I was going to take the opportunity to take him by the hand and go and meet these people so that he could see at first-hand that his policing policies are not working. However, I discovered last night when I perused the guest list that he is no longer going to the Invest SA conference.

I refer to two letters that I have received from this particular resident. The title of the comment is 'Protection for citizens of Coober Pedy', and it states:

We have made our homes jails with bars and mesh to protect our homes and ourselves. We are frightened of what will happen next, it seems the police in Coober Pedy cannot do anything to help us prevent any dangerous situations that arise. The young...children as young as five are out till all hours of the morning breaking and vandalising shops and homes, this has to stop, we have had enough. In our neighbourhood there are Housing SA homes which are occupied by...families who have broken into our homes and stolen our items and nothing can be done, and we are made to feel we have no rights.

When I responded to say that I hoped that the minister may well be in Coober Pedy this weekend with me and we would arrange a meeting, the correspondent replied:

The most pressing urgent matter at the moment is a family which is living in our neighbourhood in a Housing SA property, who have breached many rules including breaking and entering, stealing, vandalising, verbal abuse and threatening to burn our houses down. After many written complaints and police report numbers they are still there. We want them relocated as soon as possible.

In response to my colleague's question yesterday in relation to 24-hour policing, the minister said that we have 24-hour policing in Port Augusta, which is some 500 kilometres away. Clearly this is not working. The good law-abiding citizens of Coober Pedy are not safe in their own communities. When will the minister take the concerns of the residents of Coober Pedy seriously, as well as the concerns raised by members opposite seriously, and provide an adequate police service which protects the good law-abiding citizens of Coober Pedy?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (14:25): In fact, some additional police resources have been provided to Coober Pedy over the past 12 months, or so. My understanding is that there are two additional police officers, but I will get those details and bring them back for the honourable member. Additional police officers have been provided to Coober Pedy. As I said yesterday, many communities in this state would like additional police resources, as well as other additional resources for that matter. However, the honourable member opposite needs to understand that we must operate within the framework of a budget and all the additional demands that are placed upon the people of this state.

Certainly, members opposite are never backward in coming forward in asking for huge additional taxpayers' money to be spent everywhere. Indeed, over the next two years, as we approach the next election, I am sure the government will be in a position to remind the people of South Australia of all the things on which the opposition wished to spend additional money. Of course, what members opposite do not tell us is how they would be able to afford that. In relation to police, one can compare the opposition's wish list with its actual performance. Back in the mid 1990s, there were just over 3,400 police officers in this state. There are now more than 4,000, and we will—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: No, there is not.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, the Productivity Commission—

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: —figures are almost 12 months old. The Productivity Commission figures relate to the end of the last financial year. This government has been continually increasing the police numbers. We have more than 4,000 sworn police officers in this state, and vastly more than the opposition ever produced. The people of South Australia are not foolish; they know the record of the previous government, and they know that their promises cannot be—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, under this government they know that within six years (the previous lot had eight years when police numbers went backwards) in places such as Coober Pedy the number of police officers actually increased, as they have right across the state. The Leader of the Opposition rather condescendingly referred to the need for me to go to Coober Pedy. I visit Coober Pedy on many occasions, because, of course, it covers my other portfolio of mining. I regularly speak to the locals up there. I am well aware that people would prefer a 24-hour police station, and why would they not?

Coober Pedy is a community of about 3,000 people. There are nearly 1.6 million people (and growing by about 16,000 a year under this government) in this state. In fact, as I said, under this government there has been a significant increase in police resources, but the allocation of those resources must be based on need.

Under the Police Act, the allocation of police officers is a matter for the Police Commissioner. As I said yesterday, the Police Commissioner is well aware of these needs. The police regularly look at the crime record, and they look at the time of the crime record. It is not just a matter of how much crime but when that crime occurs.

To have a 24-hour police service if there is relatively limited crime in the early hours of the morning does not make a lot of sense. We must deliver the best possible services available to the people of this state, and we will do it on need. If members opposite believe they can do a better job than the Police Commissioner—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, obviously, they do believe they can do a better job of allocating police officers than the Police Commissioner; so, they can go and sell that to the public in two years. I do not think the public will listen to them. The honourable member also quoted from a letter which was essentially about Housing SA problems, and he said how these people up there would—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: It's all about buck passing.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: No. The quote from the letter was that he would like them relocated. I am sure that there are lots of people who might like their neighbours relocated, but I am not sure that it is a matter for the police to relocate people in various neighbourhoods.