Police Cadet Graduation

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (15:10): My question is to the Minister for Police. Can the minister tell members about the recent police cadet graduation ceremony that he attended?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:11): I thank the honourable member for his question. It was an enormous privilege that recently, on 20 January, I was able to attend the graduation of 25 police cadets at the Labor-built facility at Fort Largs.

The group that I had the great pleasure of being present at the induction of consisted of nine female graduates and 16 male graduates. It was an absolute privilege to be there along with the police commissioner at this important event. Meeting so many of the new graduates and their families after the ceremony was a wonderful experience and reinforced to me the clear call to service that so many of those young men and women felt and saw policing as an opportunity to be able fulfil that mission.

This is particularly the case for four police officers who, I am advised, have family members who have served or currently serve with the South Australian police force. In addition to those four with a family history in SAPOL, many new officers came with a different experience and, indeed, a great range of different experiences from a range of different professions. I understand the youngest who came into that class from the academy had a particularly unique experience while two older ones had the experience of being in the Australian Defence Force.

The graduating class commenced training on 22 January 2015 and underwent 52 weeks of training to now be prepared for the commencement of their operational service. I had the enormous privilege to be able to present an award to one particular officer who had excelled in the area of communications—a gentleman by the name of Greg. Only a couple of days ago, while walking through Rundle Mall I bumped into Greg and I asked him how he was enjoying his first month of service so far. He is as keen as ever to be able to take the learnings of his 52-week course and serve our community accordingly.

Those officers who graduated earlier this year now leave the academy—which, as I mentioned, is an outstanding purpose-built facility delivered by this Labor government—for their posting throughout the state. I am advised that, indeed, throughout the state they will go, with a significant number of new officers having been posted to the Eyre and Western Local Service Area. I know the Hon. Terry Stephens takes a particular interest in Whyalla, and I am sure it will be of great interest to him that a number of the officers will be serving in that area.

I would like to take this opportunity to place on the public record my personal appreciation to those men and women for the oath of service that they have taken, and I wish them all the very best in their careers, promoting community safety throughout the state of South Australia.