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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-11-28 Daily Xml
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South Australia Police Mental Health Support

Mr BATTY (Bragg) (14:34): My question is to the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services. Will the minister intervene in the matter of Detective Brevet Sergeant Jennifer Favorito and, with leave, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr BATTY:The Advertiser has reported today that the 'veteran South Australian detective has blamed SA Police' "horrendous" mental health support system for almost driving her to suicide'. SAPOL rejected claims—

The SPEAKER: Sorry, member for Bragg—a point of order from the Leader of Government Business.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 1, sir: House of Commons practice does not allow you to refer to media reports.

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

The SPEAKER: I am going to allow the explanation. I think the explanation and the quoting of a newspaper article is to give some background but it's not necessarily that the minister is being asked to give an opinion on what is being discussed in that newspaper article.

Mr BATTY: Thank you, sir. I will repeat the explanation. The Advertiser has reported today that the 'veteran South Australian detective has blamed South Australia Police "horrendous" mental health support system for almost driving her to suicide', and further:

…SAPOL rejected claims her mental health was hit by the death of a close colleague at Port Adelaide Police Station in January.

The detective, who has worked for the state's force for 20 years, is now obliged to pay back all psychiatric and medical costs, including all wages, to SAPOL.

The Hon. D.R. CREGAN (Kavel—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Special Minister of State) (14:36): I thank the member for Bragg for the question. News of any suicide or suicidal ideation is, of course, deeply distressing and we are all aware, as a parliament, that those who have been exposed to suicide are a great deal more likely to engage in suicidal ideation. Police and other first responders deal with confronting and, indeed, highly traumatic incidents every single day, and we have an obligation to ensure that this service is appropriately recognised and supported, including to ensure that there is adequate mental health support for all of our officers.

I am advised that South Australia Police does recognise the importance of the health and wellbeing of officers, including their mental health. Of course, it's a crucial part of having a high-functioning and resilient workforce—particularly one, as I have earlier observed, that is exposed to trauma on a regular basis—that those supports are in place and are practical and adequate. As we are all aware, the parliament is currently inquiring into the support and mental health services for police, and the government has supported the establishment of that committee and will very closely consider any resulting recommendations from its deliberations.

South Australia Police provides support in a number of ways to its employees in recognition of the uniquely complex and challenging work environment. South Australia Police members have access to psychosocial supports 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with out-of-business-hours support available via an on-call service that is accessed through the SAPOL communications centre.

South Australia Police has also established a health and wellbeing officer network, consistent with the South Australian government's Mentally Healthy Workplaces framework. Currently, I am advised that South Australia Police has a total of 112, approximately, trained health and wellbeing officers in that network located at various points across our state.

South Australia Police's employee assistance section, referred to internally as the EAS, provides a statewide professional psychological, medical and social work support service to the workforce. So far, for the 2024-25 financial year, EAS social workers and psychologists—this is up to, I am advised, October—committed 635 hours of response work, which includes individual consultations, unplanned attendances to clinic, and on-call responses out of hours. It is also important for me to observe that EAS provides support to all employees and there is a focus on delivering training and support to police officers who are in the early stages of their careers. It is important for me to observe too that each academy class has support provided to it directly.

Members present will appreciate that this matter is very distressing. All of us here, our heart goes out to any officer—including the officer that has been named in this place—who is suffering in any way because of the trauma that they have experienced, but it is equally the case that if there are internal processes underway then those internal processes must not be prejudiced by the comments that you invited me otherwise to make.

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