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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-02-19 Daily Xml
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Question Time

POLICE NUMBERS

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier stand by his promise of 300 extra police officers by 2016, revised from Labor's previous promise of 300 extra police by 2014?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:12): As the member would be aware, there has been some discussion recently about the numbers in our South Australian police force. Perhaps by way of preface, it is worth bringing to the attention of the house that the number of police in this state is the highest per capita of any state in the commonwealth, and by some considerable margin, I might say.

That, of course, is part and parcel of the reason why we have been able to deliver an almost 40 per cent reduction in victim-reported crime over the last 10 years—and just remember what that involves. That involves recruiting against attrition—so replacing those police officers who leave—and then, in addition to that, putting in additional numbers of police that has led us to that particular outcome.

In the 2010, I think, budget arrangements—indeed, the Mid-Year Budget Review, I think—there was, in fact, a rephasing of some of the commitments that were given by the government in relation to its commitment to employ an additional 300 police officers. I think in the order of 100—I think in the order of 116, in fact—of those additional 300 police officers have already been recruited. The proposition we took to the people was that we would employ an additional 300 police officers—we have an additional 100-odd police officers—and we have pushed out the time line for doing that to 2016, and that remains our present intention.

What members need to be aware of is that every government agency has been asked to make savings. In relation to the police department, some of the more modest savings have been asked of the police department in recognition of the fact that this is a particular priority of government. So, we do expect them to maintain their savings. Despite the fact that they have been asked to make savings, the amount of money that goes to the police department continues to grow throughout the forward estimates. So, it is our intention to meet our targets, as we have outlined.

Mr MARSHALL: Supplementary, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: If indeed it is a supplementary.

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