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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-02-08 Daily Xml
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Cummins Police Office

Mr TELFER (Flinders) (14:45): My question is to the Minister for Police. What action is the minister taking to assist the community in Cummins in my electorate to identify a suitable location to be used as a police office? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TELFER: For a number of months, the police officer in Cummins has been without an office facility because the building has been condemned, and community members have had to instead use various public spaces to do routine police business.

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS (Cheltenham—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (14:46): I thank the member for his question, but also his genuine advocacy on this matter. It is a matter that he has raised with me and we have spoken about at some length, so I will give him credit for the advocacy that he is undertaking on behalf of his community.

By way of background, the facility being utilised by South Australia Police in Cummins is no longer fit for purpose. It has been condemned. I think it is mould issues, broadly. That is a Department for Infrastructure and Transport property. Of course, for safety reasons that location can no longer be utilised.

The availability, as the member would well and truly know, in Cummins, or for that matter more broadly across the EP, of commercial spaces in smaller regional communities is at a premium, I would say, to say the least. Notwithstanding that, I acknowledge this and I think my strong view is that the quicker we can have more permanent facilities available, not only for SAPOL but also for the member's community in Cummins, the better. It has been far from ideal. I will recognise and also thank the local police officer, SAPOL more broadly and the local council, who have been working closely and collaboratively to do the best in the set of circumstances—which is not of their own making—that they have found themselves in.

I was advised very recently that a formal lease was entered into between SAPOL and council for some semi-permanent or medium-term to temporary accommodation that will facilitate the occupation of SAPOL in there. Of course, during this time SAPOL presence in the town and across the EP more broadly has been unchanged. Currently speaking, the security upgrades are about two to three weeks away from being completed, as I understand it.

I can assure the member that the planning by SAPOL has been running in parallel to that for the securing of ongoing and permanent accommodation. I can give the member some comfort that SAPOL will have a long presence, not only on the EP but in Cummins.

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