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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-02-21 Daily Xml
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Police Staffing

Mr TELFER (Flinders) (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Police. What measures is the minister putting in place to combat the high attrition rate amongst police officers?

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS (Cheltenham—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (15:08): I thank the member for his question. I think at the outset I will say that attrition is a real issue that is being grappled with by South Australia Police. We saw attrition start to increase quite significantly at a really bad juncture, when at the same time during the COVID pandemic there was basically a bottoming out of the applications coming into South Australia Police.

I am very pleased to advise the member that there has been now in recent months a plateauing and, in fact, a slight decline in the attrition rate of South Australia Police. It is also very worth noting and also important to note that this is not only a phenomenon that South Australia Police are grappling with. It is not only a phenomenon that police services around the country, including the AFP, are dealing with. But it is also a matter of fact for all public sector and private sector employers: holding on to the good staff is critically important. Also, holding on, in the case of police officers, who are extraordinary well-trained, extraordinarily respected and extraordinarily employable, is difficult.

I am very pleased that, notwithstanding attrition being in that 5.23 per cent range, the attrition rate of South Australia Police is amongst the lowest in the nation—and not by a little but by a lot. That is a demonstration that SAPOL is an employer of choice—and why would it not be? SAPOL has the most highly regarded workforce in the state and, if there is any private and public polling, both quantitative and qualitative, we know that our wonderful police are always amongst the highest, most valued, most respected police in the country.

That has been backed up by recent RoGS data, which shows that the public's satisfaction of our police is nation leading. Not only do we know it in this place, not only does the community tell us that, but the RoGS data—which is research undertaken by the federal Productivity Commission—backs it up.

Also, that very same report from the Report on Government Services showed that South Australia has the highest number of operational police per capita anywhere in the country. We are not resting on our laurels, we are not saying that that is enough. That is why we are not only supporting our police, the police commissioner and his senior executive, to put it in place under current arrangements and also through the upcoming enterprise bargaining process—one which the government is committed to undertaking in good faith and with a very firm focus on positive outcomes for both police as well as the government—but we are also backing it in with new funding to employ more sworn police security officers, more funding to recruit more police.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: The interjections from those opposite are—

Mr Telfer: Just answer the question.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: —around what are we doing to retain. Well, there is a suite of measures, but the demonstration of the willingness of the member to critique what is an extraordinarily low attrition rate, rather than acknowledging—

Mr Telfer: It's the highest we have ever had.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: —that attrition is real. Attrition is real and attrition is not something that is magically—you know, we close our eyes and hope for the best, because that was the approach of those opposite. During COVID they asked so much of our police and invested nothing whatsoever in new money to attract more police.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: They invested nothing—

Mr Telfer interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders!

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: —by attracting more police into—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS: What they saw was the bottoming out of applications, and what did they ask police to do? They asked police to do more with less. Attrition is a very, very firm focus of the police commissioner, it is a very firm focus of this government, but we are proud to say that attrition remains amongst the lowest in the country.

The SPEAKER: The member's time has expired.

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