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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-09-13 Daily Xml
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Thebarton Police Barracks

Mr TELFER (Flinders) (14:46): My question is to the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services. Has the minister received any feedback from officers of the mounted police or dog operations units in relation to the proposed Gepps Cross barracks and, if so, what feedback has he received?

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS (Cheltenham—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (14:47): As minister, I have certainly taken it as my obligation and part of my day-to-day commitment to police, and in fact the wonderful staff that I have right across my agencies, to go out and talk to them. I know it has not always been the goal and it hasn't always been the tactics of previous ministers to actually go out and do some work and talk to police, but I can tell you—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: Keep talking about—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey!

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: Keep talking about it. No-one knows who you or Transforming Health are.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta! The minister has the call.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Elder! Premier! Order!

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens! Believe it or not, interjections are contrary to standing orders.

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: As I was saying, I have taken it upon myself to speak directly to police, directly to our firefighters and directly to our volunteers. Again, the feedback that I have had from them has been excellent. First and foremost, they have said, 'Geez, it's nice to see a minister,' which is really good.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: The feedback I have received from multiple people within SAPOL, both from mounted operations and from senior leadership within SAPOL, is of course the recognition that the work practices that will be reviewed and changed and of course the personal change that's involved with the decant of mounted operations from its current location to a new location is not insignificant—that is clear. Whether this was to be a move to a Parklands location, whether it was to be a move to greenfields or brownfields, this is a move that is not without change.

I also accept in the question that the flip-flopping from those opposite regarding the type of change that we would like to see our mounted operations undertake has been quite extraordinary. You have got the future—oh, there he is!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! A member raising a point of order is not an opportunity for either side to interject; instead, it will be heard under 134. The member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Thank you, sir. Standing order 98: the minister is debating.

The SPEAKER: That may be. I will listen carefully, and I bring the minister to the question.

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: So the question, if I can get to the substance of it, was asking me what the feedback has been from those excellent, wonderful staff that we have in SAPOL. Well, the feedback I have had has changed at various points in time, and that is entirely consistent with the flip-flopping of the opposition, because one minute we see the member for Bragg standing there—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Flinders, your colleague, the member for Morialta, is raising a point of order under 134—

The Hon. N.D. Champion interjecting:

The SPEAKER: And the member for Taylor will not interject at the same time. The member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Standing order 98: the minister was asked about the officers' feedback. His commentary on it in reference to the opposition is debate, pure and simple.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There is some force in the point of order that has been raised. A degree of compare and contrast might be permissible. Perhaps we have reached the end of it. Minister.

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: Thank you, sir. So the feedback has been, as I said, changing. There have been various bits of feedback and it has been entirely consistent with the various propositions, or lack of propositions, put forward by those opposite, but at the core have been two key—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Colton is warned.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned for a second time. The minister has the call.

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: There have been two key bits of feedback, the first of which is that there will be—

Mr Cowdrey interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Colton is on a final warning.

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: —change, and the government empathises with that change, and in fact—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: —the police commissioner is undertaking a series of works to work with his key personnel to ensure that that change from what is now over 100-year-old accommodation at the Thebarton barracks—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is on a final warning.

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: —occurs as soon as possible. It has not been that I have just spoken to our Mounted Operations Unit, sir, but I have visited our Mounted Operations Unit, and I have seen—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: —the type of accommodation that both they and our wonderful police greys have to work in, and what I can assure those opposite is that, despite the fact that they don't want to spend a cent—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: —on mounted operations we will have the best facilities in this country, fit for purpose and fit for the future.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta and the member for Colton are on final warnings. The member for Flinders.

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