Drug and Alcohol Testing

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:11): I have a supplementary question for the minister based on the answer. Given that now over 10 per cent of all drivers tested for illicit drugs prove positive, and the fact that only 15 per cent of operational police are trained to do drug testing, is the minister satisfied that he has enough resources for this, or is he talking to the commissioner about accelerating the drug driving training for police officers?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:12): It won't surprise a former minister for police and a budding aspirant to the police commissioner's position that I am not going to start disclosing every conversation that I have in confidence with the police commissioner. However, I will say that on a regular basis the police commissioner and I meet and we discuss a whole range of issues. When it comes to resourcing, I haven't received, up until this point, any formal request from SAPOL in respect of additional resources regarding drug driving.

If the police commissioner ever has a particular desire for a particular piece of kit or technology or an additional resource that he thinks will demonstrably assist him in the pursuit of improving community safety in any particular area of community safety—and that could easily include drug driving—that is something the government will contemplate and consider. As yet, I can't recall receiving such a formal request.

Drug driving is a concern and I have stated that on more than one occasion in this place. It is particularly concerning considering that approximately 22 per cent of all people who die on our state's roads, drivers or motorcycle riders, have delivered a positive test result. It is an astonishing statistic. The number of people who are getting caught drug driving is increasing and that is of major concern. It is a major concern not just in the context of actual road safety but also the problem we are facing as a public health issue, the rise of some use of drugs, particularly the most insidious drugs that currently pervade our society in the form of ice and methamphetamine.

All of these things are of concern and SAPOL is but one component of a public policy response to it. As I have previously stated on the record, both here and publicly, the government is in the process of working with SAPOL and other interested parties, including the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure which has a major interest in road safety, about ways that we can improve drug driving laws. All that work remains in train but, as it stands, SAPOL is doing a good job in acknowledging that there is a significant problem at hand and using an intelligence-based policing model to capture more people who are doing the wrong thing.