South Australia Police

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:28): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police questions about gender-based recruitment.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: I remind the minister of the commissioner's commitment to a fifty-fifty recruitment target made in December of last year and implemented from 1 January this year. This recruitment commitment is opposed by the Police Association and by an overwhelming majority of sworn officers. In the June edition of Police Journal, several female officers were quoted as being vehemently opposed to a rigid fifty-fifty recruitment target because of the very real concern that standards will be compromised in order to achieve it.

Furthermore, the adjustment of the physical standards to be more female-friendly is an affront to the sworn female officers who passed the original standards on their own merit. In addition to this, the officers implored SAPOL management to accommodate female officers currently serving in terms of maternity leave and flexible working arrangements before recruiting even more females, which would only compound the existing failures. My questions are:

1. Does the minister believe that a fifty-fifty gender recruitment is achievable only with a new female-friendly physical fitness standard?

2. Is the minister happy with the current level of support given to the working mothers employed by SAPOL?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:29): Make absolutely no mistake about it, this government wholeheartedly supports the police commissioner in his efforts to get more women into the South Australian police force. There is a lot of evidence around the world that there are severe consequences, appalling consequences, where we see police forces not representing the community they serve. We do not want to see the South Australian police force go down the same path.

There is a lot of evidence that makes it very clear that where a police force represents and reflects the community they seek to serve, then that police force does a far better job in keeping that community safe. This is something that the police commissioner knows; this is something that anyone who has done any research on the subject knows; and I think that as a community, but certainly as a government, we are wholeheartedly supportive of the efforts taken up by the police commissioner to improve female representation and participation within the police force.

What we also know is that the police commissioner understands that, in order to be able to achieve that objective, it takes a multipronged approach. The police commissioner and the police force are very keen to make sure that the police force is improving the flexible work arrangements and considerations that need to be taken into account to not only attract females to apply for a job within SAPOL but also to retain them. The police commissioner is very keen to make sure that SAPOL is an employer of choice amongst females within our community, and particularly those people who are working mothers.

I would like to draw the attention of the chamber and honourable members to a key statistic which came across my desk recently and that I think is worthy of recognition in the context of the question, and, as the honourable member described, has 'opposition in some quarters to the fifty-fifty recruitment target'. The first thing is that prior to the commissioner's fifty-fifty announcement, the percentage of female applicants who were applying for jobs within SAPOL was running at around about 30 per cent of the overall intake. Since the announcement made by the police commissioner for a fifty-fifty target, the percentage of female applicants has increased to 42 per cent.

What do we conclude from that? The point is that the very announcement of a target of pursuing fifty-fifty recruitment of South Australian police officers—the very announcement of that commitment on behalf of the South Australian police commissioner—in and of itself has given an enormous amount of confidence to the female population within South Australia to apply for a job within SAPOL. I think that speaks to the bold leadership on behalf the police commissioner to actually make sure that he does not just talk the talk when it comes to recruiting female police officers but actually walks the walk as well.

We have to acknowledge that the very fact that the police commissioner has announced a determined strategy to employ more female police officers has in and of itself resulted in more applicants coming through, which can only be a positive thing for anyone who genuinely believes that more female police officers within the South Australian police force is a good thing. I have to say, as Minister for Police, I am very proud to be part of a government that does support more female police officers within the South Australian police force.