Metropolitan Fire Service

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:14): I have a further supplementary based on the minister's answer and based on the fact that both the police commissioner and the chief fire officer, with the endorsement of the minister, have gone for a fifty-fifty policy on gender in both SAPOL and SAMFS recruitment. Does the minister believe that SAMFS is on track with its fifty-fifty commitment to men and women being recruited into the fire service?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:14): I have to say that SAPOL's commitment to a fifty-fifty recruitment target is well noted and well known, and the state government wholeheartedly supports the police commissioner in that endeavour. I am pleased to report that it is coming along in leaps and bounds. I made an offer to the Hon. Mr Brokenshire yesterday, which is a sincere one, but if he wants to—

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Will the Hon. Mr Brokenshire allow the minister to finish his answer. Minister.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: Sorry, sir; I like talking to the minister.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: I appreciate the honourable member's passion toward emergency services and policing, being portfolios that he held a massively long time ago. But my offer to the Hon. Mr Brokenshire is sincere and if he wants to come down to the academy he will see firsthand that there is a very large number of women coming through as police. As I said in my previous answer to the earlier supplementary question, the MFS is committed, to the best of my knowledge and from what I can ascertain—and I have been asking questions about this—to having an increased female presence within the fire service. It is something that we will be monitoring and hope to see reflected in the number of female graduates in due course.