Police Recruitment

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:16): My question is to the Minister for Police. Can the minister outline how the South Australian police are trying to attract our state's best and brightest to join the police force?

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister is on his feet. Will the Leader of the Government please desist.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:16): I would like to thank the honourable member for his question. I know the Hon. Mr Gazzola desperately believes in growing our police force, and this provides an opportunity to talk about the important work the government is undertaking to ensure that we honour our pledge to create the largest police force in the state's history.

This is a government that genuinely believes in a larger police force, which is why we are going to honour our Recruit 313 commitment by the middle of 2018. That, of course, will result in the largest police force in the state's history. During the life of this government, we have in excess of doubled the size of the police budget in South Australia. That doesn't just represent growth in terms of inflation; that is genuine, real growth in terms of our very substantial investment in police, and we know that it is paying dividends, with lower crime rates.

It was with great pride that I was able to attend another SAPOL graduation earlier today, witnessing in the order of 20 new police officers enter the South Australian police force. The graduating class ranged from 44 years of age to 20 years of age, which demonstrates what an attractive career policing is to South Australians, to a whole range of different people at different stages during the course of their lives.

Just prior to the graduation, the police commissioner and I had the opportunity to do a media conference. We were able to articulate SAPOL's streamlining of the process for young applicants to apply to come into SAPOL, with the view of making sure that it is a legitimate consideration of our best and brightest young South Australians.

That streamlining of the process essentially looks like this: what they have done is decided to allow those school leavers who have an ATAR score of 70 or higher, or university graduates, to circumvent the academic test that occurs at the beginning of the recruitment process. That way, they can have a more expeditious entry into the remainder of the process in terms of fitness, psychological capacity and other attributes that are a requirement to be able to even apply to go into the cadet force of the South Australian police.

This is a really good initiative. It means that a lot of young people might actively contemplate an application to serve in the South Australian police force where they otherwise might not have. We want young people to apply. Working in SAPOL is an incredible opportunity. I mean that sincerely, for a number of reasons. The first one, of course, is that it's a good, quality, stable job. It is a well remunerated job—we pay our police officers well—and that's principally because they perform incredibly important and difficult work on the front line, keeping our community safe.

The other reason we want lots of people to apply for such a great job is because working to serve the community is incredibly virtuous. It provides a sense of satisfaction that you might not otherwise get in other jobs that exist within the workforce. I am a great believer that all work provides dignity, regardless of whether it is low paid or high paid, low skilled or high skilled. There is something special about having the privilege to serve—something that I hope everyone in this place feels; I am sure that everyone does. That opportunity is also bestowed upon all of those men and women who work in our police force.

It is an incredible opportunity. I would encourage as many young people as possible to think about taking it up. It's an opportunity to have a great job. You can have a number of different careers while working for the same employer. Working within SAPOL has a whole range of different jobs and functions attached to it. Apply now. There has never been a better time than now for a young person who is bright, articulate and committed to apply for a great job where there are more opportunities than ever before with an expanding police force.