South Australia Police

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:44): I have a further supplementary question. Given that there were many officers who attended this particular rally and who were, for instance, detectives—and it is not for me to say that they were on duty but I believe that a number of them were on duty so they were actually here in perhaps government time, and nobody has raised that as a particular issue—can you find out from the commissioner as to why this particular incident has created what we can only assume is quite an unfair charge against one of the thousands of police officers who were here in a peaceful protest?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:45): What I can undertake to do for the honourable member, in light of his interest in this subject, is to make some inquiries of SAPOL. Of course, those inquiries will have to be dealt with through the course of being conscious of what due process is with respect to disciplinary matters.

I have not had the opportunity to speak to the police commissioner directly about this yet. As many honourable members will be aware, the police commissioner is currently overseas and is very busy on an important overseas program. Upon the police commissioner's return I am happy to raise this subject with him. However, I want to be very clear: we want to make sure that any requests for information are occurring in the context of following due process and, indeed, conscious of what the law is with respect to different sections of the various acts I mentioned, particularly section 48 of the Police (Complaints and Disciplinary Proceedings) Act 1985.