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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-05-08 Daily Xml
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Police and Community Engagement Forums

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): My question is to the Minister for Police. Why is it that the minister will not name the person that he sent to the community safety forum on 16 April? With your leave, Mr Speaker, I will explain the question.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman: You don't need to.

The SPEAKER: Yes, go on.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. In The Advertiser some weeks ago, the minister is quoted as saying, 'I had a senior staff member there and 10 senior members of SAPOL were there and they did a fantastic job.' Why won't the minister name the senior staff member that he sent to the forum?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Before I call the minister—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, Deputy Premier! Before I call—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member for Unley is called to order. The Deputy Premier is called to order. Before I call the minister, the question was very broad and I would anticipate perhaps a broad answer as well. Minister.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:24): As I outlined, I sent my most senior staff member to the forum. They made themselves known to SAPOL. They made themselves known to SAPOL and they recorded the names of other people who were there as well. They didn't record the name of everyone who was there, but they made themselves perfectly clear, and known to SAPOL, that they were there representing me, and SAPOL were there as well.

The commissioner had 10 people there from SAPOL covering the forum, and it was a brilliantly done forum. In fact, people raised questions. I did ask the commissioner about the questions that may have come from some of the local members there, and I was informed that, to their knowledge, no local member there asked a question during the forum, which was most interesting. This PACE forum as well, which was very well done, I must say—

Mr Duluk: Is the commissioner a liar?

The SPEAKER: The member for Waite is warned.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —and stressed by SAPOL, even though, as I pointed out before, some of the members on the other side may not have liked the forum or may not like the work that SAPOL do—the LSA did an outstanding job. I did talk to them about some of their PACE forums as well.

As I said, they have been going since 2013, and they are done over a number of different formats and—to make sure that the former police ministers, both of them on the other side of the house, are aware in case they aren't quite knowledgeable—they are done over a forum, sometimes online. Sometimes they are done in person, as this was, or sometimes they are done in smaller more intimate groups. It is a great way for the police to then engage with the local communities, talk about issues and work them through. In fact, I was fortunate enough when I was first—

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order: again, sir, relevance. The opposition asked a question to name the senior staffer he sent.

The SPEAKER: I will listen carefully, member for West Torrens. The question was very broad with regard to why. I would anticipate a very broad answer, but, minister, please direct your answer directly to the question, thank you.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: I know the leader did ask a question about the forum that was on hand, and I am explaining that the forum was one of those PACE forums—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: —and he did ask who I sent, and I said that I sent my most senior staff member at the time and they did a marvellous job, along with up to 10 SAPOL people that were there as well that were sent on behalf of SAPOL, obviously.

I did note that the commissioner and the deputy commissioner weren't there. They entrusted their staff to go and do this role, and they did an outstanding job listening to the people. But I was pointing out how these forums work and how they engage with local communities and the fact that this was an exceptionally good forum and that they are often done sometimes online.

I recommend these forums to anyone on the other side of the house; if they want to have one, just let me know and we can get that organised. I actually had one when I first was elected and, again, the LSA from the south coast came along and engaged with an issue we had in Reynella. They did an outstanding job in actually listening to what the community had to say and sorting the problem out very quickly. It was an outstanding forum and the results that come of these are exceptionally good, and it's a way for SAPOL to be the lead agency to deal with other agencies as well. I know that a number of issues were raised and the appropriate agencies have been engaged—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: Not by the minister or the shadow ministers.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD: No, they didn't have anything to say. The opposition members that were there didn't actually make any comments throughout the forum. In fact, I think the Hon. Kyam Maher, member in the upper house, did say that he was going to follow up with me on that forum. I still haven't seen any correspondence come from him, or from any other members on the other side about the forum. So clearly SAPOL did a great job and they have covered it off very well and engaged with, as I said, the agencies that were involved and also the local community. It is really great to see that sort of response and I thank them again for their work.

The other point that I made about these forums, too, when you ask who was there, is that I did reach out to SAPOL and say, 'You have a number of these forums. How many a year, etc.?' Again, because they are done in varying manners and varying forms—some online, some bigger forums and some smaller or medium-style forums—I asked whether previous police ministers had been. I asked, 'In the last six months, how many forums have there been?' They said there have been 12. I said, 'Has the police minister of the time been to any of those?' To the best of their recollection, the police minister hadn't been to those 12 forums. Now, maybe there was a smaller forum, maybe—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: On my right, order! The Premier is called to order. Supplementary from the leader.

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