South Australia Police

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:16): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the new Minister for Police a question about South Australian police.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: It was great to hear the minister speak about the ceremony earlier. I would just like to mention that the report on government services released on 29 January revealed that there were 45 fewer sworn police officers in 2014-15 compared to 2013-14. These figures reaffirm that the Weatherill government will not come anywhere near meeting its 'recruit 300' police election promise, which requires the government to increase police numbers to more than 4,700 by 2018.

The same report has also revealed that South Australia's prison population has increased by almost 10 per cent in 12 months, with the rate of prisoner-on-prisoner serious assaults increasing by 125 per cent and prisoner-on-officer assaults increasing by 88 per cent. My questions are:

1. Can the minister advise how the government intends to reach its election promise of recruiting 300 police, considering police numbers declined last financial year?

2. With assaults in South Australian prisons increasing, how will the minister reduce these statistics and enforce stronger safety policies in our prisons to protect our officers and prisoners?

3. With the prison population increasing by 10 per cent, how does the new minister intend to enforce stronger law and order policies?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:17): I thank the honourable member for her question. I will deal with each of the questions in the order that you asked them, the first question being about the government's police recruiting targets. I am very pleased to inform members that it is very much this government's intention to honour its 'recruit 313' target as outlined a number of years ago by this government. I think our track record speaks for itself when it comes to ensuring community safety and ensuring that we have a good number of police officers on the ground out in the front line protecting our community.

The honourable member referred to the report on government services released quite recently. I draw the honourable member's attention to a key statistic, which I think speaks volumes about this government's commitment to ensuring that there are large numbers of operational police on the ground, and that is the statistic that says that this state, more than any other state in the country, has the highest representation of the number of serving police officers per capita, at a figure of 312 serving police officers per 100,000 people in the state of South Australia.

So having the highest number of sworn police officers, operational police officers, of any state in the country I think is an outstanding record and one that we are incredibly proud of. Furthermore, it is a record that I think will stand this government in good stead in honouring its 'recruit 313 target', which I am advised by SAPOL is on track.

Your second question goes to assaults in prisons and very much relates to your third question on the increase in the prison population. The honourable member is right to point out that the prison population in South Australia grew by 9.6 per cent in the last financial year, which does represent a high level of growth in comparison to other states. It is my view that that very much reflects this government's proud record of being tough on law and order. This is a government that stands by its record and its efforts to ensure community safety, and having a tough on law and order stance, which has contributed to an increase in prison population.

The challenge for the government, of course, is what we do when those people are in prison. I have already enunciated publicly that it is very much my view and very much the view of this government that we need to be doing everything we can to ensure that prisoners are rehabilitated while they are in our custody so, once released, they can make a positive contribution to society.

It is not surprising though that, as a result of a 9.6 per cent increase in the prison population last year, the number of assaults that would have occurred amongst prisoners would also go up. If you increase the prison population by 9.6 per cent, it should not come as a surprise that other statistics go up accordingly. That said, that is in no way us resting on our laurels or having a degree of complacency when it comes to the safety of those people who are within our custody and, of course, more importantly or just as importantly, those people who work for the state in ensuring that those people remain within custody, in the form of corrections officers.

The challenge within Corrections is very large. I have not sought in any way to shy away from the challenge that we have within Correctional Services. We do have an increasing prison population, and we do that within the confines of a difficult fiscal environment, but it is a challenge that this government is keen to meet head on. We do have a number of quick builds coming online throughout the course of this year. Indeed, the facility down at Mount Gambier is expanding its capacity, and that is coming online only tomorrow.

This government's commitment to law and order is unwavering, and very much part of that is our commitment to ensuring that there are a large number of police officers serving our community on the front line, hence this state having the position of having the most operational police officers per capita of any state within our country.