Crime Statistics

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:16): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police a question in relation to rising theft rates in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: Recent police figures published only a few weeks ago, and subsequently published in The Advertiser late last month, show that theft offences have risen in South Australia by 9 per cent since last year. The biggest increase of theft offences was seen in the northern suburbs, where theft increased by some 22 per cent to 7,726 offences in total (or, put another way, an extra 21 theft offences per day).

Offences relating to fraud and deception have also seen a 6 per cent increase. In saying that, I acknowledge that other crimes have declined. My question is quite simply: why is theft on the rise in South Australia, and what is the government's plan to curb the rise?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:17): I thank the Hon. Mr Hood for his question, and indeed for his commitment to monitoring the safety of South Australians. It is a commitment that the government shares. When it comes to law and order policy in this state, I am really proud to be part of a Labor government that has taken the issue of crime seriously and is trying to develop a series of policies to be able to reduce crime.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: Crime is on the increase.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: The Hon. Mr Brokenshire just made the mistake of interjecting and suggesting that somehow we are not doing a good job of this, when we all know that the number of crimes occurring in our community today are a lot less than what was the case when the other mob were in charge, and, of course, when Mr Brokenshire was around. I am going to take the liberty of ignoring the Hon. Mr Brokenshire's interjections, which only divert my capacity to be able to answer the Hon. Mr Hood's questions, which I think are founded in a genuine concern, rather than some sort of political expediency.

Crime stats, I am advised, are down when you look at the long-term trend around theft and robbery. I understand the Hon. Mr Hood's question was particularly around crimes of that nature. I am advised that, with any statistics, the smaller you make the sample, the more a small change can be shown to look larger. I think some cherrypicking of statistics may have occurred with the objective of trying to make a more sensational story recently, as was the case a couple of weeks ago—

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: No, really? Who would do that?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: —which is something I am sure the Hon. Mr Hunter might have some sympathy towards. In relation to the issue that Mr Hood raises, though, we are not a government that seeks to deny a reality. We have recently seen, on some measures, a little bit of an uptick in some crime stats. I think the key message that we need to take away from that reality, which we do not deny, is that we have to make sure that policing is always moving forward in a positive and progressive way.

It is not an okay assumption to make that what has necessarily worked in the past will always work in the future. Policing is an ever-changing, incredibly dynamic area. We have to make sure as a government that we are supporting the South Australian police force and any efforts they want to undertake to ensure that their policing activities, their policing methodology and their policing structures are evolving in such a way to deal with today's and tomorrow's challenges, rather than just focusing on the ones in the past.

That very much speaks to the effort being undertaken by our police commissioner, Mr Grant Stevens. This is a police commissioner who is committed to not resting on his laurels but to making sure that the South Australian police force is reforming itself, organising itself, to be able to deal with tomorrow's challenges and any challenges that may be starting to rear their head at the moment with regard to crime statistics.

Part of the SAPOL organisational reform method is to make sure that we have as many resources as we reasonably can out on the ground. We want police, where it is possible to do so, to come out from behind the desk and be out on the front line, where it is appropriate to do so. We commend the police commissioner on undertaking some bold organisational reform to try to take on the challenge to which the Hon. Mr Hood refers.

The other thing, of course, goes to government policy questions, and legislation forms a very important component of that. Pieces of legislation that we can bring before the parliament that deal with changing technologies, which may improve SAPOL's ability to be able to go out there and take those technologies and enforce law is something to which we want to remain committed. When it comes to the funding of police, the funding of resources and new technologies, as a government we want to make sure we are making all technologies available to SAPOL to be able to do that. We will continue with those policies, continue to be tough on crime, but also we are going to try to be smart on crime when it comes to policing methods, legislation and dealing with repeat offenders, which do continue to make up a significant component of offending that occurs within the state.