Salisbury Police Station

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (15:20): With respect, I thank the commissioner for inviting me to make a submission, but has not the commissioner put the cart before the horse? Should he not ask the community first and then ask us second, because I would think that members of parliament would have less to say about the whole thing than would the community?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:20): I thank the honourable member for his question. The police commissioner can choose which order he thinks is best suited. I suspect part of the police commissioner's logic is that people who are leaders within the community, like the Hon. Mr John Dawkins, would be keen to be able to make a written submission at the first available opportunity, but rather—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Let the minister—

The Hon. K.J. Maher: Shameful!

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Leader of the Government: I have said this before, there is more of an onus on you to act responsibly because of your position.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: Hear, hear!

The PRESIDENT: And the Hon. Mr Dawkins, the Whip, you have a certain responsibility as well. Allow the minister to finish his answer. Minister.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: So, I suspect that the police commissioner wanted to give the opportunity to those leaders within the community at the state government level and the local government level to be able to make a contribution. The Hon. Tung Ngo took time to make a submission, unlike yourself, and now the option of course is available to the public.

An advertisement, as I mentioned, was in The Advertiser that makes the opportunity available to the entire South Australian public. I look forward to the outcome of the review, as I am sure you do, the Hon. Mr Darley. Let us just take the temperature out of this. The critical thing is that we want to make sure the police commissioner has all the information he needs to be able to make sure that questions of the allocation of resources of his own staff are able to be answered in a way that ensures that the community remains safe and continues to become safer.

We all, I think, acknowledge that, sometimes, it is better to have police officers out on the front line rather than sitting in a police station. It might not just be at 3 o'clock in the morning; it might also be at 9 o'clock at night. So, we need to make sure that the police commissioner can ask that question in the context of—that is a very good example. I did say '3 o'clock', and it was in the context of an example—I am sure that is something the honourable member can get his head around.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: You might learn that the shorter answers get you into less trouble.

The Hon. K.J. Maher: The opposition Whip is determined to destroy the order of this chamber, but I will press on nonetheless.