Police Staffing

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (14:39): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police a question regarding police resourcing.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: Over several sitting weeks, we have heard the Minister for Police espousing the virtues of government when it comes to increased police numbers. Of course we all know that there was a big campaign about to start if the government did not come back on their promise of 313 recruits.

The Hon. P. Malinauskas: Which we did.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: Yes, because politically, it would have flogged you after you broke promises for over two years. Secondly, we have had the police minister regularly saying that the budgets are bigger and better than they have ever been for SAPOL. Inside police sources at SAPOL have advised me that it is possible that 27 metropolitan public servants who work in metropolitan police stations, doing a lot of the mundane and repetitive bureaucratic administrative work, will have their positions removed and that they will no longer be there to support police officers in those police stations.

Given that the minister has said repeatedly that there will be more police out on the beat, my question to the minister is: can he confirm that there will be up to 27 civilian people who work in metropolitan police stations losing their positions, or can he rule it out, and if he cannot rule it out does he agree that this is going to put further imposts on operational police officers who should be out on the beat, keeping the South Australian community safe?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:40): Well, Mr President, I can absolutely confirm that this government is serious and committed to making sure that we have more operational police officers out on the beat. I think this government's steadfast commitment to that can be demonstrated by two key points. The first one is that we are in the process of delivering this police commissioner, this police force, the largest number of active sworn police officers that has ever been seen in the state's history. We are already the largest employer of police on a per capita basis of any state within the commonwealth—a phenomenal record, and that record will continue to improve by virtue of the process of recruiting 300-plus extra police officers currently, as we speak.

If the Hon. Mr Brokenshire, as a passionate individual around policing in this state, wants to go down to the academy and witness, as I have, the extraordinary number of police going through their training procedures before becoming active sworn officers, I would actively encourage him to do so, because I am sure he will be nothing but impressed by the calibre of men and women coming into the police force at the moment.

The second thing that demonstrates this government's commitment to having more police officers operationally on the beat is our willingness to support the police commissioner in determining the way police station operating hours should apply—as distinct from other members within this parliament who seek to make political plays out of the way that police station operating hours occur. It is utterly remarkable that we have got the alternative government of this state going to the next state election with a policy to start interfering operationally in the way SAPOL conduct themselves. We have got the alternative government of this state tearing up every basic principle and convention that exists around the way policing occurs in this state by going to the next election—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: This is all a statement; this is all on the record, Mr President. They have got a policy—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: It's okay, it's all out there, the electorate will make a determination in due course. But let us be clear about it: it is a substantial point of difference. Do not try to resile from it. You are better off just owning it. They are going to the next election with a policy of telling the police commissioner when he should have police stations open and closed. It is quite extraordinary, Mr President, because what they are in effect doing is telling the South Australian public that they know more about operational police matters than the police commissioner himself. That is the first thing they are doing.

The second thing they are doing is they are going to take police officers out, off the beat, and put them behind a desk somewhere at 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning under this strange illusional concoction of thought that criminals walk into police stations to commit crimes. It is utterly remarkable. We, on the other hand, have a proud track record when it comes to putting more operational police officers out on the beat to tackle crime, which, by and large, is where serving officers want to be.