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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-05-15 Daily Xml
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Schools, Random Drug Searches

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:42): My question is to the Minister for Police. Does the Minister for Police stand by the government's commitment that they will instruct the police commissioner to dispatch the drug squad and undertake random inspection in our public schools? With your leave, and the leave of the house, I will explain my question. On 11 August 2017, the Premier publicly announced, and I quote, 'I will instruct the police commissioner to develop protocols for SAPOL to conduct random inspections of schools by the drug squad.'

The SPEAKER: The Premier.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:42): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order on my left! Members are called to order. A number of members are on two warnings.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I think, sir—

The SPEAKER: The Premier will be seated. A number of members on my left are on two warnings. If they continue in this regard, they will be departing the chamber under 137A(1). The Premier will be heard in silence. Premier.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you very much, sir. I think this is what the previous treasurer used to refer to as faux outrage. We saw that demonstrated in the chamber only a few moments ago. The Leader of the Opposition asked a sensible question. We've had a lot of questions which haven't been that sensible so far today, but it was a sensible question that the Leader of the Opposition asked.

He was referring to comments I had made, which are comments I stand by. We will be directing the police commissioner to develop a protocol for the ability for the police to go into our schools, where required, to make sure that drugs are not present in the schools. This is something that we are not ashamed about. In fact, we are very proud because we think that the incidence of drugs in South Australia is way too high. In fact, when we look at the incidence of drugs in South Australia, we are very concerned, and I don't know why those opposite don't join with our concern on this particular issue. The incidence of drug offence in South Australia is actually double the second highest in Australia—that's outrageous.

When we look at the wastewater treatment monitoring that is done in South Australia, it shows that the prevalence of drugs in our wastewater is way, way too high. This is a problem in metropolitan Adelaide and it's a very significant problem in regional South Australia. So we will be doing every single, solitary thing that we can.

We would prefer to have the support of those opposite, but we don't think that the concept of sending a police sniffer dog into a school to check whether drugs are present is a massive intrusion. They are not going to be rifling through bags within classrooms. They will be doing it in a reasonable and respectful way. This is not something new to the police force in South Australia; they already have the ability to do it. So I find it surprising that the Leader of the Opposition would ask a question on this because I was going to write a question for one of my backbenchers to ask me a question on this tomorrow because we are very proud about this.

What I think this does demonstrate is that those opposite have run out of questions. We saw a little bit earlier the member for Lee sort of freelancing, just jumping up and asking a question, and the member for Enfield jumping up and asking a question that somebody previously—

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Point of order. The Premier will be seated.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: This is just now debate, sir.

The SPEAKER: Yes, the Premier is now I think debating, but I think he is wrapping up.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you, sir. Again, I would just reiterate to the chamber via yourself, sir, our absolute resolved position to do everything we can to keep our children at school free from the insidious opportunity that some people take to sell drugs at schools. We want to stamp it out. If it is in schools, we want to identify it. Once we identify it, we want to take action.

Those opposite had their chance. They had 16 years. They sat on their hands. They had a casual attitude towards drugs in schools and drugs in society in South Australia. We will not be complacent. We will work very hard, and I look forward to the opportunity of doing everything we can to keep our children safe.

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