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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-06-19 Daily Xml
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Department for Infrastructure and Transport, $1,880,745,000

Administered Items for the Department for Infrastructure and Transport, $141,722,000

South Australia Police, $1,196,686,000

Administered Items for South Australia Police, $73,000


Membership:

Mr Batty substituted for Mr Patterson.

Ms Hutchesson substituted for Mr Brown.


Minister:

Hon. S.C. Mullighan, Treasurer, Minister for Defence and Space Industries, Minister for Police.


Departmental Advisers:

Mr J. Whelan, Chief Executive, Department for Infrastructure and Transport.

Ms E. Kokar, Executive Director, Transport Policy and Regulation, Department for Infrastructure and Transport.

Ms S. Clark, Director, Road Safety, Policy and Reform, Department for Infrastructure and Transport.

Mr S. Johinke, Executive Director of Business Service, South Australia Police.

Mr I. Parrott, Assistant Commissioner, State Operations Service, South Australia Police.

Mr A. Excell, Executive Director, Transport Strategy and Planning, Department for Infrastructure and Transport.

Mr G. Jackson, Executive Director, People and Corporate Services, Department for Infrastructure and Transport.

Ms M. McLeavy, Director, Marketing and Communications, Department for Infrastructure and Transport.

Mr L. Pineda, Manager, Budget and Reporting, Department for Infrastructure and Transport.


The CHAIR: The portfolio is road safety. I declare the proposed payments open for examination. I invite the minister to introduce the advisers and make a statement, if he so wishes.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Thank you, Chair. I have no opening statement, but with me I have Sarah Clark, who is the Director of Road Safety, Policy and Reform; Jon Whelan, who is the Chief Executive of the Department for Infrastructure and Transport; and Emma Kokar, who is the Executive Director, Transport Policy and Regulation.

The CHAIR: Member for Bragg, statement or questions?

Mr BATTY: I will go straight into questions, thank you, Chair. I might start with Budget Paper 5 and some of the new road safety measures in this budget I would like to run through in turn, starting with page 49, where we see provision for additional road safety maintenance—$10 million in 2027-28 and another $10 million in 2028-29, so about $20 million. I think the RAA were asking for somewhere in the region of $1 billion over this forward estimates. Can the minister talk to that amount and whether it is nearly enough?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I do not think any government or any minister would try to genuinely say that all of the requirements of maintaining and improving our roads is provided for over a four-year period. As the member for Hammond would know perhaps better than some of the rest of us—other than someone like Jon and the others around me, of course—the state went through a really significant program, particularly following the Second World War, of creating new roads and sealing roads—

Mr PEDERICK: I do not quite go back that far!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Well, you are post Second World War. Some of us are post more recent wars.

Mr PEDERICK: Post Korea.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Post Korea, sorry—in the post-Korean environment. Many more roads were developed across regional South Australia and many existing roads were sealed for the first time, and the old refrain used to be: South Australia has 10 per cent of the nation's roads, we have 7 per cent of the population, and we get 5 or 5½ per cent of the national road funding. So we are always starting from behind with this.

There are two things I would say about the particular line that you have drawn my attention to: one is that no-one likes the prospect of rolling out initiatives, including things like mobile phone detection cameras or other road safety types of cameras, and, of course, the revenue that they are forecast to generate through motorists doing the wrong thing and generating expiations, but I think it is important that we demonstrate that when those cameras start coming online, we are using any revenues generated or forecast to be generated from those cameras to go into road safety related initiatives.

Your question basically goes to the point of: does $20 million really address the RAA's identified backlog of a billion dollars for road maintenance backlog, or whatever their latest figure is? No, of course, it does not but it is an improvement on top of previous additional road maintenance allocations that we have made in earlier budgets.

I would also say that the Department for Infrastructure and Transport has a reasonably significant annual program budget. I think it is something like $150 million or $160 million, and $100 million of that is basically for road maintenance. So, yes, it is not a billion dollars over the forwards, but we are talking, certainly including this, that we are over $400 million over the next four years for road improvements.

Mr BATTY: I think the figure that the RAA uses is closer to a $2 billion backlog.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Well, it has been a high-inflation environment.

Mr BATTY: It is not easy. Is this a figure that the department has as well? Is there an official road maintenance backlog, and, if so, what is that number?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: From the information that has been provided to me, I will try to provide a few different strands of information. I am advised that the RAA identified a figure in 2018 of $750 million as being the maintenance backlog, and, as you say, member for Bragg, they are now saying it is roughly in the order of $2 billion. I am not exactly sure how they estimate the value of the backlog.

The work that the department does traditionally has been, when we engaged our own road maintenance crews, they would have a rigid truck with a—I do not know if you would still call them a road gang. They would go out and basically constantly survey the roads and they had enough equipment on there to do patchwork and that sort of thing.

Now what happens under the outsourced arrangement that the previous government put in place across the regions in particular, is that there is a requirement for the contractor to be doing that kind of ongoing survey work of the condition of the roads that the state is responsible for and identifying road improvements, if I can put it that generally, that are required to maintain the safety of the roads.

Not that this has been the case in the last 15 months, but when we have high levels of rainfall it often creates cracks and potholes and that sort of thing, which are dangerous and need to be immediately addressed and filled, or through wear and tear shoulders fall away and the road narrows and becomes dangerous, particularly for traffic travelling at 100 km/h, and so on.

There is new technology, I am advised, called iPAVE being rolled out. That is trying to provide an estimate of what the batting order of works needs to be in order to maintain safety. I am advised that the total road maintenance budget for 2023-24 was something like $189.7 million, and the budget for 2024-25 has been $162 million and the disparity between the two was because some additional and urgent works were identified in 2023-24 that caused that higher amount in that year.

Mr BATTY: I understand that is the budget. Is there a number for what is outstanding?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Not really, because if you think of the budget estimates over a four-year period, the immediate road improvement needs that you identify in, say, June 2025 will be a list that long, and when you get to June the next year, the year after or the year after that, notwithstanding how many of those demands you have identified this month, that will change as the roads continue to deteriorate, change and so on.

I have always been curious to understand how the RAA has identified a dollar figure for what is required in spending to get the roads back up to a particular standard. Firstly, we could all sit around all day arguing what the specific standard should be and how it is measured, but, secondly, what the work programs are or what interventions are required to bring it up to that standard. I remember from my time as a transport minister, you never really have any sort of overall estimate because it changes month to month as the condition of the road changes.

I cannot remember what we did when I was in the portfolio, but we put some money into the Riverland highways when the rail lines closed, for example, or we fixed up some work on the Tod Highway in the electorate of the member for Flinders, and maybe both need to be done again because we are six or seven years down the track since it was done. That is why there is no fixed point in time estimate.

Mr BATTY: As far as the department and the government is concerned, there is not a backlog per se of road maintenance. There is a budget that meets the needs and that is what you spend, and there is no backlog?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: There are always road improvement works that have to be done to maintain safety on the roads, but you would have degrees of work that change between what is urgent and critical to make sure that when Peds is driving back to his electorate he does not lose an axle in a pothole that has just emerged after a weather event. That road progressively has been getting narrower because vegetation is overgrowing it or shoulders are falling away. I was inviting Peds to dress up a DD where he could tell us the story of hitting that kangaroo that was so big the tail whipped around and hit the taillight—I think he explained it last time.

Mr PEDERICK: It did $14,000 worth of damage.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: That is right. I am envisaging some sort of Godzilla-type marsupial. I have no record to speak of when it comes to kangaroos.

Mr BATTY: So you think, for example, the $189 million you mentioned of annual spend this year on road maintenance is sufficient, and you disagree with the $250 million the RAA say we need to be spending?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: You can always spend more money on the roads to get a better quality of roads. The unenviable task that Jon has within his portfolio responsibilities, and I have more broadly across government, is trying to make the money you have allocated go as far as possible.

I do not pretend that the spend that we had last year, or the spend that we have this year, or what is provided for next year is going to meet all the needs of the roads, because there is an almost endless amount of priorities and opportunities to improve them. Once you get past the urgent and critical works that I referred to before, then you have the opportunity to start thinking about some proactive safety improvements. It might be installing the audio tactile line marking that makes noise and gives a vibration when you start to veer towards the edge of the road or veer towards the centre line, or it might be providing a better road safety crossing outside a regional primary school that is located on one of our highways within a township.

Mr BATTY: Do you have the funding split of how much road maintenance funding was spent in metropolitan areas versus in regional areas?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No, I do not, but what I am advised is that, historically speaking, it has sort of fluctuated between fifty-fifty or sometimes even slightly more in regional areas, depending on what the priorities of the particular financial year are. Of course, we are talking about maintenance, not necessarily road projects, which are specifically funded, including in partnership with the commonwealth. That funding split does not include when there is a specific upgrade program, such as for the Princes Highway or the ongoing duplication of the Augusta Highway towards Port Augusta and that sort of thing.

Mr BATTY: I might move on to another budget measure: page 51, road safety targeted campaigns. Is road safety messaging in campaigns and advertising going to be a task of the government's new advertising and insights hub, or is DIT having a role in these campaigns?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: All government advertising goes through a process called the Government Communications Advisory Group (GCAG), which is located within the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. That has been in existence for quite a number of years now, under successive governments. Any advertising campaign, whether it is 'go and get your flu shot' or 'be safe on the roads' or whatever, ultimately goes through that. How those campaigns are funded, though, is that the funding comes from the agencies that the advertising relates to. So, for the road safety targeted campaigns, this is additional funding on top of existing budgeted funding across both the Department for Infrastructure and Transport and SA Police.

What I think I also announced as part of the budget is that the old Road User Safety Advisory Committee (RUSAC) is not being continued, and a new committee is being developed in its place. It is good that Jon is here because he is about to hear that he has been dobbed in for that task, as has the police commissioner and a much smaller group of people who will provide oversight, not just for the road safety initiatives, blackspot funding and the sort of thing that the government continues to roll out, but particularly what the campaigns could be—because I think all of us, in the cold light of day, would say that the quality and the success of those campaigns can be variable.

Mr BATTY: I guess that is what I am interested in: who is responsible for that messaging? I think it emerged earlier in the year that the Media Road Safety Unit within SAPOL was having a lot of its responsibilities transferred to the new centralised hub. Can you confirm that that is the case? Also, in the case of DIT, is the same thing happening? Was there a role that DIT was playing that has now been transferred to the centralised hub?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Just remind me of the name of the centralised hub?

Mr BATTY: I think it is the advertising and insights hub.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: This is the centralisation of government advertising staff.

Mr BATTY: This is the Premier's new spin doctor.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No, the spin doctors are the media advisers. These are the people who are responsible for agency advertising campaigns across all the different functions, from emergency services to health and education campaigns, but also including road safety and policing campaigns.

That hub relates to where staffing occurs or where staffing will often be located. There will be some staff who remain in agencies that are in scope for that review, and there will be other staff who are transferred to the new hub, but in terms of the funding for the campaigns and the authorisation and approval of those campaigns, that does not change. The funding will still come from the agencies.

It will still need to be ultimately approved by that GCAG process that I mentioned before, but I think what gives me a bit more comfort about the quality and effectiveness of those campaigns is that it will go through this new road safety committee, which Jon Whelan, Commissioner Grant Stevens and one or two others will sit on, to make sure that it is hitting the mark and likely to be successful.

Mr BATTY: I will go to another issue at Budget Paper 4, Volume 3, page 162. I am interested in the target of this year to continue the rollout of reduced speed limits of 40 km/h at schools. What schools has this been rolled out at so far? This is dot point 2 of the targets for this year.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: There are some schools which this was piloted at previously. I cannot give you the full list, but I am aware of one, for example, because it is in my electorate: Seaton High School. Now that that has been in place for some time at those locations, that has provided the impetus to know that, contrary to previous perspectives, it is feasible for us to be rolling out these 40 km/h zones, which will only apply at particular times relevant to the activities of the school, rather than being a blanket speed limit reduction on an arterial road and all of the impacts that would create for traffic and freight and so on.

There have been two elements to this, with the rollout. One is providing a legal basis to reduce the speed limit at particular times. We have had to go through a process where we have had to consult and agree on, between transport and police and the education department, what are the school days. We have to legally define those, because if someone is pinched doing 60 in a 40 zone on a school day, we have to have a legal basis to define what the school day is, for the purpose of upholding that expiation or that breach of the traffic laws.

Second is designing signage which will be suitable for motorists, because some of us are perhaps more familiar with what the school days are than others. If you do not have school-age kids or you do not drive past a school particularly often, you can have a sign up saying it is 40 km/h on a school day, or at these times of a school day, but motorists might not know whether it is a school day or not. It could be school holidays or it could be one of the increasing plethora of pupil-free days which seem to afflict parents in South Australia.

Mr BATTY: What does that signage look like? Is there additional infrastructure associated with it? Are you going to have orange flashing lights warning everyone it is 40 km/h or is it just a sign saying these are what the school days are?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: This is the work that Sarah's team has put a huge amount of effort into. Of course, there is what we would call a static sign, which is just a sign that says 40 km/h on school days and these are the times of the day, but because of that concern that not every motorist knows if it is a school day or not, we have to have some sort of live signage.

The options that we have been working through are having flashing lights above that sign to indicate that that sign is in effect, that it is a school day and it is in those times, and motorists should slow down to no more than 40 km/h. The alternative is what we have been increasingly rolling out in other parts, which are what we call the electronic signs. They are basically a black sign which then has LED signs of a red ring around a white 40. They can flash and be quite eye-catching, even in full daytime conditions but particularly in low light conditions.

What we have agreed on is a stepped rollout of those electronic signs to be installed. Given that they are powered, that obviously comes with some complexities, and we are trying to work out how we can roll out those signs to the greatest number of sites while keeping costs under control. If you had to trench power to both ends of that length of the arterial road to power it you can easily imagine how expensive that becomes.

Part of the work that has been undertaken by Sarah's team in recent months has been the feasibility of procuring those electronic signs, those black background signs with the red flashing ring and the flashing 40 in white text, of powering them by a panel that sits above it and a battery facility. We think we have the capacity now for approximately 50 sites of those signs. There would be a sign at each end, those electronic signs flashing, as well as the static sign explaining what is going on, that it is on school days at these times.

Mr BATTY: When do we expect that will start rolling out, and when will the rollout be complete at those 50 sites?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: We might have to come back to you on when it is due to be complete, but we anticipate that basically from next month they will start going out.

Mr BATTY: Is there a target on how many you roll out over the next, say, six months?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: There are a number of sites of schools on arterial roads. I think the total number we have identified is something like 150, but perhaps I can provide you with the detail of the rollout, including timelines, in a subsequent response.

Mr BATTY: Sure. I am interested in the particular locations, as well, if you have decided on the 50 locations that will be getting this initially. Perhaps if you could take that on notice, that would be great.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Sure.

Mr BATTY: With what little time I have remaining I might move to another issue on the same page, mobile phone detector cameras. What locations will cameras be rolled out at over the coming year?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The initial ones were installed where there were pre-existing gantries that the transport department had put in place just for road projects themselves. We procured the cameras and were able to just bolt them to existing infrastructure that had power to it. What we are looking at now are sites where we may not necessarily have those gantries.

It has also been put to government by the supplier of the detection cameras, I think to both SA Police as well as Transport, that there are now alternative infrastructure solutions for the cameras that can be mobile. They look like a largish trailer that can be parked at the side of the road. It is obvious what it is—it is fluorescent yellow or orange or something—and then there is a kind of boom that is erected out of the trailer. It can then monitor the lanes of traffic to do the same function.

The advice provided to me is that that may be an alternative and attractive way of rolling these out, because you do not have the costs of having to power a site, install the expensive, custom-manufactured gantry per location. Of course, you can deploy that trailer for a day or a couple of days and then you can move it to another location.

I do not really have fixed advice at this stage about exactly where they are going. My constituents have said to me, 'Somewhere outside of almost exclusively the western suburbs of Adelaide would be welcome,' so it is probably going to be provided slightly more broadly than what has been the case to date.

Mr BATTY: How much revenue was raised last year from mobile phone detection cameras, and where does that money go?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am advised that there was nothing raised in 2023-24, and the current estimate for the financial year 2024-25 is $16 million.

The CHAIR: The allotted time having expired, I declare the examination of road safety complete. Further examination of proposed payments for SA Police will continue after the break. The proposed payments for the Department for Infrastructure and Transport are referred to Estimates Committee A.

Sitting suspended from 15:45 to 16:00.


Departmental Advisers:

Mr G. Stevens, Commissioner of Police, South Australia Police.

Mr S. Johinke, Executive Director, Business Services, South Australia Police.

Mr B. Cagialis, Director, Finance and Procurement, South Australia Police.

Mr C. Hill, Superintendent Chief of Staff, Commissioner's Support Branch, South Australia Police.


The CHAIR: Welcome. The portfolio is SA Police. The minister appearing is the Minister for Police. I advise that the proposed payments remain open for examination. I call on the minister to introduce his advisers and make an opening statement, if he so wishes.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I have the Commissioner of Police, Grant Stevens, with me, as well as Stephen Johinke, who is the Executive Director of Business Services.

Mr BATTY: I might start with some questions after those brief introductions. I refer to Budget Paper 4, Volume 3. I might start on page 186 with the Workforce summary. Obviously, this budget does see some investment in new police officers and I will get to some questions about that, but for now what is the current funded establishment number of sworn officers?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: It is 4,673.2 FTEs.

Mr BATTY: How many officers do we currently have? What is the shortfall, if any, from that number?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am advised that we are 109 FTEs below establishment.

Mr BATTY: Will you meet the 30 June target of returning to that establishment number?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No.

Mr BATTY: For what reasons will SAPOL fail to meet that 30 June target for returning to establishment?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: SAPOL is funded for its full establishment, but I think, as we have discussed at some length in the other place from time to time, over the last four or so years there has been an increasing demand for labour across the state economy. There have also been challenges for South Australia Police in terms of attracting and retaining workforce and so that has led to a series of initiatives in subsequent budgets to try to ensure that South Australia Police have the best possible chance of catching up to their funded establishment.

That has included a campaign aimed locally, nationally and internationally to try to attract people to consider becoming South Australian police officers and also to step up the number of courses that are being conducted at the Police Academy in an effort to catch up to that funded complement.

What we have tried to do in this particular budget is provide an additional amount of funding for those attraction and training programs to increase the throughput to the Police Academy. Based on the anticipated performance of how many officers are successfully recruited and trained and become sworn officers through the Police Academy, I understand that figure to be—and I will correct this if I get this wrong—305 officers through the academy this financial year, which is a substantial increase on what the normal throughput is. We have assumed, for the budget forward estimates, that SAPOL maintains that run rate, that higher run rate, of getting more sworn officers into the force and then continuing that across the next six years at that same higher level to get us to the point of 5,000 sworn officers by 2031.

I am advised that leading up to the COVID period in late 2019, early 2020, the shortfall was approximately 5 per cent of the funded headcount, and it is currently sitting at about 2.5 per cent. SAPOL has done a pretty good job catching up through that higher output through the academy, and now we are trying to lock in that higher level of output and continue it on for the next six years so that they not only catch up but go beyond it with the extra 326 FTEs that will get it to 5,000.

Mr BATTY: But are we using the wrong assumptions? I think as early as the start of this year we were still looking towards that 30 June target date for fixing the shortfall, and we are still going to be over 100 short. Are we using the wrong assumptions on how we are going to fix this?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I do not think so. I think there are a few different elements that are going into it. One is that I think there is a sort of demographic issue, which has been explained to me is not too dissimilar to other significant workforces in the economy. There is a cohort of South Australian police who are getting to retirement age and the annual reduction in numbers that that causes. There was, for a period of time, particularly during COVID, a difficulty in retaining officers. Existing police who were not even at retirement age were thinking that perhaps this is no longer for them and were wanting to go and pursue other careers.

I think what has changed is not necessarily that the number of police getting to retirement age has changed, but I think police have been more successful in retaining workforce and, on top of that, making sure that they can step up recruitment and training efforts. Stepping up recruitment is not able to be done without challenge, of course, because it depends on the suitability of applicants. As you can imagine, there are some pretty significant requirements that the police are wanting to see from the people who apply to become cadets and be trained through the Police Academy.

The suitability of applicants has also been a challenge as well as the capacity of the academy, but the output of the academy has, I am advised, stepped up significantly in the current financial year, given the cumulative efforts that South Australia Police have put into running those additional courses and attracting more people to apply to be police.

I am advised that attrition has historically been extremely low in South Australia Police, something in the order of 3-odd per cent, which every other government agency would give their right arm to have an attrition rate that low—except, of course, Treasury, where people jump out of their beds to go and work in—but they have managed to stabilise attrition now.

I think the other thing that we are anticipating will help is the interim agreement that has been reached between the government and police officers in terms of remuneration. That has also sent a clear message that these are not just really good jobs but they are well paid jobs as well going forward, including comparatively against other jurisdictions around the nation.

Mr BATTY: You mentioned the suitability of candidates being one factor which might be limiting recruitment. Is that a way we are going to solve this problem? Has SAPOL removed spelling and numeracy testing for those applying to join the academy?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am advised that the spelling and numeracy requirements that have previously been imposed by SAPOL have been changed in order to not knock back as many, particularly young, applicants. Applicants are able to apply and be accepted at the age of 17, for example, even though they cannot commence until they are 18. But it has been done in the environment, of course, that SAPOL was a bit of an outlier in requiring spelling and numeracy testing or minimum standards before coming into the workforce. It is not even something that applies to doctors, I am advised. Certainly, for GPs handwriting tests do not apply either.

Mr BATTY: So the minister does not have any concerns about removing spelling and numeracy testing for SAPOL applicants?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No, I do not think so. As I said, for other significant professions of key community need those sorts of tests have not applied. There are still written comprehension and other similar tests and thresholds and benchmarks which have to be achieved, as well as making sure, not just in terms of enhancing the capacity or increasing the capacity of the Police Academy, additional supports are also provided to cadets who have been admitted to the academy for training as sworn police for some of those academic thresholds as well.

Mr BATTY: If we are not going to meet the 30 June target to return to establishment, have we set a new target date to returning to establishment numbers?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: There is not a particular date that has been identified, because I think SAPOL's objective is to get back as quickly as possible, and it requires the successful achievement of both quality of applications and getting people through their training at the academy and admitting them as sworn officers in order to catch up as quickly as possible.

From a government perspective, I have just tried to make sure that police have the capacity to fund the endeavour and roll out those programs which they have already shown to be successful. As I am sure you have known, having attended graduation ceremonies, we are now starting to see the benefit of the campaigns that have been conducted interstate and overseas with graduates through the academy who have previously been with police forces from other states and territories or from other international jurisdictions, particularly the UK and Ireland.

Mr BATTY: I might just return to the spelling and numeracy testing. I think you said that they had changed. What is the change?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: We have removed them entirely. Now the focus, as I said before, is on the cadet's capacity for written comprehension and the capacity to not only understand and be familiar with the laws that they have to enforce but also ensuring that the paperwork requirements and so on are able to be achieved and that they can demonstrate sufficient problem-solving, reasoning and decision-making in the course of their training at the academy as well.

The commissioner might correct me here, but it is my understanding that the vast majority, almost all, of cadets that are accepted into the academy for training to graduate as sworn police officers get through. There are from time to time a very small number of cadets who do not go through the training. That may well include not being able to demonstrate sufficient problem-solving, decision-making, reasoning tasks as well.

Mr BATTY: When there are circumstances each year where SAPOL is not spending its allocated funded establishment amount on having a full complement of police officers, where does that surplus funding go?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: My advice is that, to date, it has been redirected towards other spending priorities and initiatives and cost pressures within the agency.

Mr BATTY: How many sworn police officers joined the force this financial year, and how many separated from the force?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Do you mean: how many became sworn officers, or do you also include joining the academy to be trained? Are you talking about the number admitted as sworn officers?

Mr BATTY: Sworn officers.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I do not have an exact figure in front of me, partially because we are almost but not quite at the end of the financial year. In putting the budget together, we had projections of where we expected to be at 30 June this year, so for the 2024-25 financial year, as a total. I will come back to you but my understanding is that we were aiming to have something in the order of an increase of 60-odd, but just let me get you the right numbers.

Mr BATTY: Perhaps just how many came on board and how many separated. Still on workforce, does the government support the recommendations of the Select Committee on Support and Mental Health Services for Police?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: What page are you on?

Mr BATTY: Page 186. It affects the workforce, or I can frame it as: is there any funding allocation in this budget to implement any of the recommendations?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I do not have a copy of the recommendations or the government's response to them, or considerations of the government's response to them. I am certainly aware of the report and have looked at the report with great interest because the report I think demonstrates to me the impact of mental health challenges confronting members of the workforce and the necessity of ensuring that there are adequate psychosocial supports for those members.

SAPOL, for many years, has run quite a comprehensive series of programs aimed at supporting the wellbeing of their police officers, including with respect to mental health, and there is quite a significant allocation of resources in SAPOL's ongoing budget for those services. My advice is that police are still working through the recommendations of the select committee and finalising their position accordingly, so that would mean the government, in responding to that select committee report, would take into account the advice we get from SAPOL.

We are certainly alive to the challenge and some of the initiatives the commissioner has advised me he has put in place in recent years, have included trying to work with staff to alter rostering arrangements to make them a bit easier on the staff, improving the employee assistance services, making sure there is appropriate confidential access to counselling services, as well as the leave arrangements available for police adequately recognising the extraordinary demand placed on officers above and beyond what other members of the public sector are exposed to.

Mr BATTY: Before I move on from workforce, still the same budget line item, is an investigation being undertaken into the Assistant Commissioner Crime Service, John Venditto, and, if so, who is undertaking this investigation?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Before I come to that question, I go back to your earlier question about the net increase in sworn numbers. The best advice I have to date—so not for the financial year—is an increase of 63, and those figures 264 added, versus 201 separations. Should there be further updates to that, particularly as we get to 30 June, I will make sure it is included in subsequent information I provide to the committee as a question on notice.

My advice is that these sorts of investigations are conducted in accordance with the Police Complaints and Discipline Act, which does two things: first, it requires that, while any of those investigations are underway, I or other members are not at liberty to share any details of those investigations. That also extends to ensuring that the identity of anyone who might be the subject of one of those investigations is not disclosed as well.

Mr BATTY: When is the investigation due to be completed?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I refer to my previous answer: it is not for me or anybody else to provide any information on any particulars of any investigation that might be underway, according to the terms of that act.

Mr BATTY: Perhaps I will frame a slightly different question: is someone currently acting in the role of Assistant Commissioner Crime Service, who is that person and for how long are they expected to act in that role?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am advised that Acting Assistant Commissioner Cath Hilliard is currently performing that role.

Mr BATTY: For how long is she expected to perform that role?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: That is not yet determined.

Mr BATTY: Moving to a different budget paper, Budget Paper 5 and some of the new measures, we have touched on police numbers already, but on page 53 we see funding effectively to increase the establishment number of police officers to reach 5,000 by next decade. How many of these additional police officers will be funded and commence in this coming budget year 2025-26?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: What I have tried to articulate is that we anticipate being short of the funded sworn officer number at the end of this financial year, and the sworn complement funding will obviously continue into 2025-26. During the course of 2025-26 we would expect a further catch-up, hopefully to get back to, or as close as possible to, the full sworn complement during the course of 2025-26.

The six FTEs that are identified in that same financial year as part of this budget measure on page 53 relate to additional staffing which had been recruited to expand the additional training effort that is going to be required in order to recruit, and to continue recruiting, the higher output of sworn officers under the program.

Mr BATTY: So, as part of this announcement for additional police officers, there will be no new additional police officers funded over the next year?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No. We have been very up-front that, given that we are—what was the figure that I gave you before?—roughly 100 behind, there is still that task during the course of 2025-26 to get back up to funded complement numbers and to continue the progress the police have made over the last two or three years in catching up after the COVID years. Where we see the total funded headcount numbers of sworn police start to increase is from the 2026-27 financial year. So there will be more sworn police than there are currently in 2025-26, but that reflects that we are still catching up on the number that need to be recruited to get back to the—what was the figure I gave you before? I think it was 4,673.2.

Mr BATTY: That sounds about right. Is there any impact on community safety while this shortfall maintains?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am advised no, because the commissioner ensures that they manage the workforce to ensure that critical safety functions are maintained. Of course, the other efforts that have been underway over recent years under the commissioner's leadership are additional efforts to get more sworn police out into frontline duties and releasing them from other support and administrative-type roles. For that 100 or so that we identified before, we would not say that they are in any way diminishing the number of frontline sworn officers who are out on those duties. The commissioner, as I said in my earlier answer, ensures that the community safety and other critical functions are fully staffed all the way through, so there is no impact there.

Mr BATTY: How did you arrive at the round number of 5,000 by 2030? Is that a number the commissioner asked for, or was that the number recommended by the Premier's Taskforce into policing? Was there some science to it, or is it just a nice number?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: It is certainly a number that was discussed between the commissioner and I as we were talking—as we did over a number of meetings while framing the budget as it relates to South Australia Police. As I indicated earlier, we tried to understand what was practically achievable over what period. When we came to government, South Australia Police had suffered those impacts during COVID that I had described earlier and were needing to catch up more substantially compared with where they are today.

Having over the last two or three years really dialled up the efforts of advertising, attraction and recruitment, and then increasing the training output through the academy, what would it look like if we maintained that for a number of years going forward? We realised that, in the immediate term—for the next financial year, the budget year of 2025-26—it was still going to involve catching up with the current sworn complement, but then for the next five years at the same run rate it would get us to that figure of 5,000.

Is there a particular science behind it? I am not going to say, 'Yes, there is, and this is the calculation,' but South Australia, amongst all the states, has enjoyed the highest number of sworn officers per capita. I think that has meant a few things for South Australia. One is that we have a police force that in my view is the best regarded police force in the country. We enjoy community safety conditions that are often the envy of other states and territories, and so we want to maintain that. We have had previous efforts that were funded under previous Labor governments: the Recruit 313 and the Recruit 400. All of these names are catchy, of course, but a target of financial year 2030-31 I thought was the most catchy Treasury inflection that we could put over the target.

Mr BATTY: I think you said a little earlier that it is 5,000 because that is what we can manage to recruit. Is that how we come up with these numbers? Is it what we can manage or is it based on what we need?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: As I said, South Australia starts well, notwithstanding the challenges that we have had of maintaining the workforce given the impact of COVID. I could have said to the commissioner, 'Right, I am funding you for 5,000 officers and it starts on 1 July 2025.' That is clearly impractical, given the capacity of the labour market to supply those additional recruits, the time it takes to train people through the academy, and so on. We have tried to come up with a really practical approach staged over a number of years, which maintains that very high output of the academy that has been achieved through the efforts of the commissioner and South Australia Police over the course of the current financial year.

It is also happening at the same time that we are stepping up the recruitment of additional police security officers, firstly the 189 that were funded in the 2023-24 budget and the extra 98 that are funded in this budget. On top of the sworn officers being recruited and the police security officers being recruited, we are stepping up the number of civilians who are being recruited to undertake roles which have otherwise been undertaken in the past by sworn officers.

There is a huge amount of additional recruitment across those three areas that is now required of South Australia Police. We have tried to be practical and pragmatic about what is actually achievable in each financial year, and that has given us that runway that is funded in the budget.

Mr BATTY: Will the 5,000 by 2030 keep up at least with population growth, let alone the increased demands that are put on police that we talked about before? What about simply population growth? That is one science you might use to arrive at a number.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Yes. I have had this conversation not just with police but also with representatives of police who have said, 'Well, if the population is growing by this amount then the police force should grow commensurate with it.' I understand the attraction of making that argument, particularly if you are a representative of police officers in the community, because you are trying to say to the government that whenever there is population growth you have to fund us for more officers.

I do not think the argument is quite that simple. We have some demographic idiosyncrasies in South Australia that other states and territories do not have. The fastest growing element of our population is actually the older cohort of South Australians, the over 65s and even over 85s, and so unless there is going to be an outbreak of zimmer and gopher-related crime in coming decades it means that we can take a more nuanced approach to how we fund our public services, if I could put it like that. Again, I did not even refer to you, member for Hammond.

Mr PEDERICK: Thank you.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I have improved against the last session.

Mr PEDERICK: I am not in either bracket.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Indeed.

Mr BATTY: Did the Premier's Taskforce into policing recommend a 5,000 number by 2030 or some different number?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am not going to talk about what was in the task force report, because, as I have explained both to the house and also to the community, that was a report which was put together for the benefit of cabinet and cabinet's consideration. I think it should be clear to everyone that there has been a significant amount of work done by South Australia Police and a significant response now from the government about what the future resourcing requirements of our police force includes. We have responded to that in the budget.

Mr BATTY: It is hard to know if you have responded if we cannot see the recommendations of the report that is apparently establishing what we need. Putting the task force to one side, can you, as minister, talk to whether the 5,000 number is something that has been requested by SAPOL or was some other number initially requested?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: In my discussions with the commissioner and his team we have spoken about, firstly, the immediate task at hand, and that is getting back to funded sworn numbers. Secondly, what has been made clear to me is the substantially changed nature of the policing task nowadays compared to what it might have been in years gone by, where there are certain types of police taskings that were not quite as prevalent in the past but which are highly prevalent now and which are incredibly time and resource intensive.

The best example that has been provided to me, or the one that I have been advised that is most illustrative of that, has been responding to domestic violence incidents. A patrol might be responding to a tasking in a home and it might take them, quite often, four to six hours, or getting close to the entirety of a shift. I am told that that was not necessarily the case, say, 20 years ago. That is probably not going to change substantially in the near term.

Aside from population demands, the other input has been the change of demand on police themselves of the policing task. That also informed the decision to provide more resources for sworn officers. In addition to that the commissioner has also been advising government that there are opportunities to release existing sworn police numbers onto more frontline duties by recruiting other types of staff, like police security officers or civilianising the workforce. So while the overall sworn officer numbers as a cohort might not increase, the number of them being present out on frontline duties does increase. What we have tried to do is provide as much funding as possible for all those different endeavours to increase policing resources.

Mr BATTY: Talking about increased demand, has the minister received any advice on what additional SAPOL resources will be needed to implement the government's new coercive control legislation?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Yes; we have had discussions with South Australia Police about the resourcing implications. The regime will not come into effect until 2028 in South Australia, and part of the reason why was to see how these new reforms were being rolled out in other parts of the country to understand what impact they had generally, but in particular on police resourcing as well. Hopefully, over the course of the next one, two and three years we will have a better understanding of what that resourcing impact looks like.

Mr BATTY: Is that factored into this budget or is there perhaps additional resourcing that is going to be required when that law comes into place?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: We tried to provide additional resourcing for police in ongoing budgets under the term of this government to try to make sure they have the resources they need. I also recognise that if there are further demands that become apparent to police in future years, then the government of the day—whether it is me here or you here—is going to have to respond to that accordingly. That may well be required, but at this point in time it is a bit hard, as a hypothetical, to nominate what that might be.

Mr BATTY: Fair enough. I think we have established that there is no new funding this year for additional police officers and the focus needs to be on returning to establishment through recruitment and retention. Is this budget proposing to spend less on police recruitment over the coming year and, if so, how much less?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: My advice is, no, for a couple of years. One is there is a carryover from how much was budgeted in the current financial year, which will be carried over into next financial year.

Mr BATTY: Why?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: It is for a range of reasons. The cohorts within each of the courses may not have been what was initially envisaged. For example, the number of police successfully progressing through those cohorts might have changed and the estimates about processing international recruits and when the expenditures are required to support those international recruits have slipped from one financial year to the next. There is the timing of marketing campaigns as well.

The other substantial item that is worth noting for the record is when there are underspends in the funding that is provided for sworn officer numbers. Not only as I indicated in an earlier answer is that retained for South Australian police but a use of that in the past and what is envisaged in the future is that that is used to try to bolster some of the resources necessary to accelerate the number of officers who are sworn in.

Mr BATTY: If I just take you to page 190 of Volume 3 of the Agency Statement, which is explaining differences in expenditure from the estimated result from this year compared to the budget next year, the difference in that expenditure is partially explained about halfway down the page by 'lower accelerated police recruitment expenditure' in this budget year. It strikes me as strange if we are focused on recruitment and retention and we are at a shortfall of 100 police officers that we would be having lower accelerated police recruitment expenditure this year.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: These budget figures do not reflect the carryovers, which are included from one financial year to the next.

Mr BATTY: So they are carrying over because you did not spend the full complement on recruitment or retention last year?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: As I explained earlier, some of the forecast expenditures as part of that recruitment, in terms of expending money on campaigns, expending money on assisting international applicants to transition to South Australia and go through the academy, as well as any changes in what was originally budgeted for, the number coming through the academy, how many per course, etc. is sort of summarised in an amount which SA Police seeks as an operating carryover.

Mr BATTY: I see. So you do not need more because you did not spend everything you had last year on recruitment?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: There is an additional allocation for next financial year and then, of course, with the carryover and the experience of needing to carry over some of this expenditure it tops it up to a level where there is no diminished resourcing for the effort in the next financial year. Then, of course, it is conceivable, as has been the experience recently, that we might encounter the same sort of thing next year. If there are timing changes required because cohorts of international applicants are different from what is originally budgeted for, we might see further carryovers of expenditure.

Mr BATTY: So we might not spend the money that we currently have this year to recruit and retain either?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Quite possibly. I think the important point, though, is that that money is not lost to the effort; it is maintained for the effort. It is just that, rather than being spent in one financial year, it might be spent in the subsequent financial year.

Mr BATTY: Is there not an urgency to this problem? We have a shortfall of 100 police officers.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: It does not reflect the level of effort or will that is going into the program. What it reflects is what is originally budgeted at the commencement of the financial year, which considers things like how much money is required to be actually expended on the campaigns, how much money is forecast to be expended given the recruitment mix from those who are coming from interstate or overseas, or those estimates which are budgeted for at the outset of the financial year about how many training courses and how big the cohorts in each of those courses.

We budget that at the beginning of the financial year. If there are low levels of expenditure during the course of the year, it means that rather than that money being taken away and not being able to be used by police for those efforts in the future, it is just carried over from one financial year to the next. That, I think, explains why the government has maintained the police's funding for the full 4,673.2 FTEs but allowed underspends against that to be used for policing purposes, including of course this important effort of trying to get back to a fully funded headcount.

Mr BATTY: What was the budget for recruitment efforts in the year that is about to end? What was the underspend against that budget?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am advised the underspend was $1.8 million, but let me see if I can give you the two figures. I think previously the budget had allocated funding of $12.2 million over three years. I think that was in the 2023-24 budget, but I will check that. We have now continued that program with a further $12 million over three years. The year-by-year expenditure—I think I am giving the impression—fluctuates out of that program where expenditures might be higher or lower depending on how much activity and how much expenditure is happening in each year.

I am advised that the budgeted amount in the current 2024-25 financial year was $8.5 million, so obviously significantly more in advance of the roughly $4 million per year that had been allocated. The actual spend, different now that we are getting close to the end of the financial year, is about $1.8 million lower, so just under $7 million. That kind of indicates that while we have roughly been working on a $4 million a year budget, you can see that the fluctuation in that figure is quite significant, particularly as the underspend on wages for sworn staff can be reallocated to this purpose of attraction and recruitment.

Mr BATTY: But does it also show that SAPOL did not spend 20 per cent of their recruitment budget this financial year that is about to end?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No, I am advised that it is more a reflection on the vagaries of timing of expenditures in the program. One of the biggest swing items, I am told, is the work that we get generated through the federal government with the processing of visas for people coming in from overseas. That has a really significant determinant on how much money we are spending bringing people into South Australia.

When I am indicating an initial budgeted amount for this current financial year of something over $8 million against what had been funded as a budget measure a number of budgets ago, of $12 million over three years, or roughly $4 million a year, it kind of underlines how South Australia Police are able to flex up their spending for these efforts, in an effort to try to catch up to getting as many sworn officers back towards a funded complement as possible.

Mr BATTY: Sticking with this theme, I might go to page 54 of Budget Paper 5, continuing on with this accelerated police recruitment with $4 million a year, if it is spent. There are some clues on what it is going to be spent on in the budget papers. One of them says increasing the number of courses delivered by the Police Academy. How many more courses will this extra funding deliver?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am told that, historically, there used to be six courses conducted per year at the academy. That is now running at between 11 and 12 courses. In addition to that, there are five PSO courses per year, where previously that had been one.

Mr BATTY: I am interested because this budget item says you will be increasing the number of courses delivered; is that wrong?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No. As the money has been made available to police for recruitment and attraction, they have had the financial capacity to flex up those number of courses. What this budget and these budget papers show is that the increase from par, which is six courses a year, up to now running at a much higher output of 11 or 12, is able to be continued given the ongoing funding that is provided in this budget.

Mr BATTY: So last year there were 11 or 12, and this year there will be 11 or 12?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am also advised that there are the additional four international recruit courses, which are funded in advance of those 11 or 12. If you are stepping up from six to 11 or 12, plus the additional four, you can see you are almost tripling the output in terms of number of courses through the academy. That has been able to be achieved through the funding year on year that is provided through those previous budget initiatives. But I think as we have explained for the benefit of the committee today, police retaining the flexibility of using the wage underspends from not being at their fully sworn complement has given them the capacity to use those resources to invest in those programs additionally.

Mr BATTY: Is that basically the Police Academy physical facilities operating at capacity now?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: We would think that we would be pretty close to that capacity. If we are running 11 or 12 courses and the notional maximum cohort size of each course is 26—and I am advised there is some capacity to maybe increase that by one or two—then that is a full-throttle effort for the academy. But I think what I am also advised is those cohort sizes have not always been achieved because of some of the reasons I was explaining before about not having either enough applicants or enough suitable applicants for each of those courses. Some of the course sizes have commonly been, say, 18 or 19 rather than 26, which has meant that we have not caught up to the fully funded sworn complement as quickly as what we would like.

Mr BATTY: How much of the $4 million per annum from this budget measure is allocated towards those apparent increases in the number of courses delivered by the Police Academy?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I will have to take that one on notice. The other thing I could have mentioned in my previous answer, which the commissioner just reminded me of, is there is also a body of work which has been undertaken by police at the academy to redesign the Constable Development Program to make sure the training that is being provided is not only effective but it is as efficient as possible as well.

As you well know, having attended graduation ceremonies and understanding how long the courses go for and the content that goes into them, one of the things I have learned in the course of this job is, even the recruits that come from police forces internationally, many of them are not familiar with handling a firearm, for example, because it is not required in their home police force. I think police are doing everything they can to make sure the training is fit for purpose but making sure that it is not compromised in any way.

Mr BATTY: Another measure that this budget line is funding is improving vocational pathways. What does that look like, and how much of the annual funding is for that purpose?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: That primarily relates to the Pathway to Policing program, which is being run in conjunction with Thebarton Senior College, and that provides the capacity for school graduates to be in a position where they are able to be fast-tracked into the Police Academy, having been assessed as having the requisite skills and capabilities that are suitable for becoming cadets.

Mr BATTY: The final thing that this budget measure is funding is engaging in recruitment campaigns. How much of the funding is for that purpose, and has there been any change in recruitment strategy recently, or since you became the minister, say, or are we going to just keep doing what we are doing?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: In terms of the allocated amount, I might have to take that on notice and come back to you. It will basically be the component of the $4 million per year that is budgeted as part of the initiative in Budget Paper 5, which you have referred to previously, as well as the additional funding that is provided from the ongoing carryover process, which we have been talking about as well.

In terms of changing the recruitment process and programs, my advice is that there have been a series of changes which have been put in place by the commissioner. I do not claim any credit for that because this program had been well in train by the time that I took the portfolio on, and given I have released four budgets with absolutely no change in design whatsoever except for the financial year in them, I am probably not the best source of knowledge in terms of making these sorts of things attractive. I rely on the expert advice that is provided and that the commissioner pursues.

Mr BATTY: I guess the worry is, despite all of our best efforts, we have still failed to reach establishment numbers by the target we set this year. We have a shortfall of a hundred police. Does funding another 300 police turn a shortfall of 100 into a shortfall of 400? There is no point in funding new police if we do not have a plan to recruit them.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No, I do not think so because what the last two financial years in particular have shown is a significant improvement in sworn officers and catching up on that shortfall against the total funded complement. That is, I think, a reflection of the efforts to improve the workplace and working environment. That is stabilised attrition rates of people wanting to leave the force but at the same time also stepping up the number of people attracted to applying to be police and then training them through the academy.

I think both efforts, particularly over the last, I would say, two financial years in particular, have shown that even in advance of the measures in this budget, SAPOL is making very significant progress in getting back because there was a very significant shortfall post COVID. That has been successfully pegged back by SAPOL; they have made substantial progress, as we spoke about earlier—a further 60-odd increase in sworn numbers during the course of this financial year—and we expect that progress to continue, given the success of the programs South Australia Police have put in place to date.

Mr BATTY: Will any of this funding go towards a dedicated retention plan?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: A range of different initiatives have already been put in place to try to improve retention. A lot of it is governed through the enterprise agreement and the working conditions specified as part of the agreement.

My attention has been drawn to the extended hours rostering, for example, which has been really heavily consulted on with the workforce to try to come up with a regime of rostering which is more amenable to police and, hence, more attractive to their lifestyles as well. Then you have the overall issue of remuneration.

Part of the rationale of reaching the interim agreement with police was to provide a significant step up in remuneration and to try to dissuade those people who, proud as they are of being police officers, enjoying the job and so on, thought they were not being remunerated at a level that was enough to convince them to stay in the job. A range of measures have been put in place and continue to be put in place to improve retention and to try to decrease the issue of attrition that we spoke about previously.

Mr BATTY: The next budget measure down is the expanded motorcycle capacity. When will the first new bike arrive?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: There is capital expenditure as part of that line of $1.218 million, which is largely for the procurement of the bikes.

Mr BATTY: When do we expect to see them?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: As long as Peter Stevens keeps going, asap. Putting aside that sort of facetious comment—as we have with police cars, there is an ongoing rolling order of police vehicles, including motorcycles, which are used for a period of time and are then replaced. The $1.2 million indicates the funding that is made available to purchase the additional 33 motorcycles in the next financial year when the measure comes into effect, as well as all the other expenditure required to modify the bikes and procure all the other police-specific items and equipment used to fit them out. I am also advised that that funding also includes the additional training necessary for the motorcycle-specific duties for those police officers.

Mr BATTY: Is that a particular pressure point at the moment? Was it a priority to double the motorcycle police fleet, rather than double the size of the Youth Crime Taskforce, for example?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am advised that it is a priority. They play a particularly important and visible role in terms of road safety and promoting road safety outcomes, but they have a much broader range of duties beyond that as well. It has been identified as a particular priority, given that, while we have made some progress in the last 20 years of bringing down the road toll, we seem to be stubbornly hitting a threshold that is hard to crack through to continue reducing it.

Mr BATTY: Did the Premier's Taskforce into policing recommend that the number of motorcycle officers be doubled?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am not going to comment on the contents of a report that was provided for cabinet.

Mr BATTY: Next page, page 55, is the pistol replacement. What replacement pistol will be procured?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: There will be a procurement process that will invite responses from firearms manufacturers to demonstrate their particular models and their capabilities and through-life servicing requirements and costs and all that sort of stuff, as well as working with the officers themselves about what is effective for the task but comfortable and user friendly to have as a critical piece of police equipment.

Mr BATTY: When will that procurement process commence and conclude?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: My advice is that some of the preparatory works have already commenced within South Australia Police. While I cannot give you the exact timeframe, there is obviously a period of time where you approach the market and advertise that you want responses from manufacturers, then there is a period of time that is allocated for people to respond to that call, and then there is an understandable and necessary period where there has to be the assessment of the various responses from the manufacturers, the down selection presumably to a shortlist and then to a final model before going through the contractual arrangements with them. That is why the bulk of the funding for the purchase of the thousands of firearms is in 2026-27—roughly 12-ish months from here.

Mr BATTY: I will move on to Agency Statements Volume 3, Program 1: Public Safety. Is there any allocation in this program budget line for the review into the district policing model, and who is conducting that review?

The CHAIR: What was the page number?

Mr BATTY: Page 189.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: My advice is that police have gone to market to procure a suitable candidate to be the reviewer and that process is already underway. Sorry, was there an additional element to your question?

Mr BATTY: What is the timeline?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The response from the market has been received and it was indicated when approaching the market that they were looking for somebody who could conduct that work in approximately a three-month period, so that will be part of the assessment criteria about what people have responded with, demonstrating that they can meet that timeline. But once that procurement is finished, then roughly three months from then on there will obviously be a period of time for police to consider the details of that review.

Mr BATTY: Sorry for my ignorance, but what is the market in this context? It is obviously external.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: It is certainly external to government, and they are consultancy firms, universities, people who can demonstrate a familiarity with the task of policing. I do not have the assessment criteria here but as far as I am advised police are looking for somebody who is conversant with the demands of the policing task in the current day and age, and how the district policing model aligns to that and so on. It will not be necessarily that the entire market that does these sorts of public policy program reviews is suitable but certainly in the advice that the commissioner has provided to me previously they feel that they have been public enough and cast the net wide enough to ensure that there should be a number of people who are identified who are capable who respond.

Mr BATTY: Did you say that you have now received the response from the market?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Yes, and they are being assessed.

Mr BATTY: How many responses were received?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am advised that it would not be appropriate to talk about that because, as you can imagine in a procurement process, if there is any indication about what sort of response there has been from the market while police are still engaging or negotiating with tenderers, that might influence the disposition of the tenderers.

Mr BATTY: Fair enough. Will the review be made public?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The commissioner's advice to me is that there will be a component of it that is intended to be made public, but there may well be parts of the review that are not appropriate to be publicly released. That would be informed by whether any of the review content or findings have any bearing on operational considerations or capabilities, understandably. But that will be something that will be determined by the commissioner in due course.

Mr BATTY: Have the terms of reference for the review been set, or is that part of what the market operator will determine?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am advised that the terms of reference have been set, and they have been provided to those people who are responding to the tender process, to the procurement process. They are not being released at this point in time, particularly while the tender process is underway.

Mr BATTY: Will the terms of reference be made public soon?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: That is to be determined. They may well form part of the public-facing document, but the terms of reference may have some relevance to operational considerations and so in some part may not be appropriate to be released. Again, that will be considered by the commissioner.

Mr BATTY: I think you mentioned that it was going to take about three months—I think that is presumably from when a reviewer is appointed. When is a decision expected to be made about the appointment of the reviewer?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: My understanding is that the assessment panel is considering the responses. While it was an objective of the tender process to identify a three-month period, that will be subject to the tender responses as well. At this stage the advice is that a decision will be made in the near future once the assessment panel has concluded its work, and then, notwithstanding the feedback from the tenderers, it will still aim at that three-month period.

Mr BATTY: Who sits on the assessment panel?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: My advice is that it is the deputy commissioner, the assistant commissioner in charge of governance and the superintendent responsible for organisational reform.

Mr BATTY: Was the review into the district policing model a recommendation of the Premier's task force into policing?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I think the commissioner has been up-front publicly that this was an initiative of his own.

Mr BATTY: I refer to the same budget program on public safety, but to a different topic. How many officers are on the Youth and Street Gangs Task Force, and are there currently any vacancies on that task force?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: My advice is that, as the member may be aware, the formation of the task force was an amalgamation of the temporary operations of Mandrake and Meld, and that it has a total establishment of 33 officers and there are not currently any vacancies.

Mr BATTY: No vacancies?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No vacancies.

Mr BATTY: But it has the exact same number of officers as Operation Meld and Mandrake had. I think there was a bit of confusion last time, so I just wanted to clarify that.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The temporary operations of Meld and Mandrake were staffed by secondees from districts, so the formation of the ongoing task force means that those 33 positions become ongoing positions and those secondees are no longer being taken from those other districts, diminishing their numbers. This means that, in effect, between the districts and the task force there is an overall increase in resourcing as part of the additional 70 roles that the commissioner identified earlier this year.

Mr BATTY: I see. I think your press release talked about how merging the task forces would then also add an extra 13 police officers to their ranks. I think the commissioner told the Budget and Finance Committee that that might have been some sort of misunderstanding. Did you misunderstand, or is there an explanation for that?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: As I have explained to the other place previously, and as I just reiterated in my prior answer, rather than having to staff the temporary operations of Mandrake and Meld with secondees, the 33-officer contingent now of the ongoing task force has meant that secondees are no longer required in the districts. I do not have with me the reference to 13, but I think the commissioner has tried his best to answer that in Budget and Finance.

Mr BATTY: How many arrests have been made by the Youth and Street Gang Task Force since its creation?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Just to correct a previous answer I provided: you asked what is the make-up of the procurement panel. There is also a probity officer that sits independent of the deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner and superintendent. Sorry, could you just repeat that question?

Mr BATTY: How many arrests have been made by the Youth and Street Gang Task Force since its creation over the last four months?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: We do not have that figure. We will take it on notice and come back to you with a response.

Mr BATTY: Perhaps also if you can take on notice how many arrests were made by Operations Mandrake and Meld in the four months prior to the merging. I think merging those operations was first suggested in a SAPOL management report dated 3 April 2024. Is there any reason why that did not occur until February 2025?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The commissioner advises me that it was a function of timing to identify the opportunity and the roles that are able to be put in place for the establishment of the new task force. As I said, one of the ancillary benefits has been not just having secondees for two temporary operations but having an ongoing contingent of 33 officers for the task force, alleviating that situation where secondees had to be taken from other districts.

Mr BATTY: I think that same management proposal report identified a challenge, being the lack of required skill set of members attached to those operations. How has this been addressed with the new task force?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: It has been addressed by having the task force staffed by sworn police officers with the skills and attributes necessary to be in that position. Obviously, being part of an ongoing task force means that they develop particular experiences and hence enhanced skills from doing that type of specific policing work over a period of time, and that is something that having an ongoing task force rather than a temporary operation benefits.

Mr BATTY: How many new youth and street gangs have been identified by SAPOL over the last 12 months?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: My advice is that the task force is monitoring four distinct groups as part of that work. I am not going to name them for the record, but that continues to be a focus of their endeavours, continuing to monitor and, whenever necessary, intervene on the activities of those four distinct groups. I am advised that one of the reasons for not naming them is not wanting to inadvertently contribute to their notoriety.

Mr BATTY: Sure. Does the minister sit on the youth crime round table?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Are you referring to the effort the Attorney-General put together some weeks ago?

Mr BATTY: The government's youth crime round table.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I, along with Minister Cook, attended a forum—I would not call it a round table, because there were several tables, some of which were not necessarily round—where there were some 50-odd, I think, attendees to discuss it. Aside from the ministers, there were police, a range of social and community service representatives, and representatives of criminal justice agencies and the courts. Those forums are held from time to time, but they are convened by the Attorney. I cannot say when the next meeting is or what the schedule is, but yes, I have participated in those efforts.

Mr BATTY: So you have just attended the one forum?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: In the time that I have been minister, yes.

Mr BATTY: Have there been any outcomes from the forum or the round table?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Beyond my areas of involvement, I am certainly aware that there are ongoing efforts within the courts and the human services portfolios to try to provide better supports, not just to young South Australians who might find themselves at some risk of engaging in illegal activity or becoming familiar with those sorts of organisations that we discussed in a previous answer but—

Mr BATTY: But specifically coming out of the round table.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: One of the things that the Attorney has been at pains to make clear to me is the necessity to increase resourcing broadly across the criminal justice system by providing, for example, additional funding for courts. It enables them to have greater financial capacity. The Courts Administration Authority is an independent body of government, but providing additional resourcing to courts enables them to continue the efforts they have put into their youth justice endeavours, including through the Youth Court, through diversionary measures and so on.

Similarly, with the Human Services portfolio and some of the activities and programs that are funded through Human Services, and then more broadly in Correctional Services, while we have, in the last two budgets, added more beds, the clear message to government from Corrections has been that there needs to be more accommodation provided outside of jail to try to prevent people who are on remand or who are fit for bail not having to languish in correctional facilities and risk them becoming more heavily involved in either criminal activities or in subsequent criminal justice involvements.

I forget the date of that meeting, but it has been in my time as police minister, so in the last four or five months, but these are ongoing endeavours across a range of different agencies where new programs are put in place. I think the other thing I would say is we are also trying to change our resourcing and the way in which we provide services to children in the child protection system as well, because obviously it occurs, unfortunately, from time to time that children in state care become involved in criminal activity or are subject to criminal activity by other people in the community, and so part of the additional resourcing that has gone into the child protection system is to try to provide the structures and supports to those kids so that they are not exposed to that or do not become involved in it.

I am happy to take it on notice. I am also advised that South Australia Police is aware of more investment that is going into rehabilitation for young people who are either currently in custody or who have been in custody, but these are programs that are outside my portfolio somewhat. I might take the question on notice and come back to you with some detail after consulting with those other agencies.

Mr BATTY: Thank you. I think the round table was an initiative that was in the government's youth offender plan. Was SAPOL consulted on the youth offender plan, the final version of that that was released on 6 March 2025?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Yes.

Mr BATTY: What feedback did they give?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I do not have the details of the specific feedback that was provided but South Australia Police were engaged by the Attorney-General's Department that put it together.

Mr BATTY: So SAPOL wrote the youth offender plan?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No, AGD put it together but SAPOL provided their feedback to it during the course of the process, but the extent to which that feedback was taken into account, I do not have information in front of me that enables me to comment on that.

Mr BATTY: What date was SAPOL first consulted on the youth offender plan?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I will have to take that on notice.

The CHAIR: We are drifting a little bit away from budget lines, but if the minister is happy to answer, I am easy.

Mr BATTY: I am happy to move on to a different topic, in any event, Chair. Program 1, public safety, continuing to respond to community needs, and there are many references to preparation for COP31. What resources have been spent on COP31 early preparation so far? Funding, but also how many FTEs have been dedicated to this task and where have they come from?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: In recent weeks, South Australia Police have put together a team of six to eight people to conduct the detailed planning and investigations that are required to get ready for it. Then there is a far more significant funding allocation that has been provided in the financial year of 2025-26, which will be primarily for South Australia Police and the Department of the Premier and Cabinet to fully understand what the requirements of the COP31 conference is and that sort of preparatory work is in advance of and separate to the actual resourcing for it should South Australia be awarded the hosting of it and then in that respect we would anticipate that the commonwealth provides a significant amount of funding to meet those costs.

Mr BATTY: So there are six to eight SAPOL resources currently working on preparatory work. Where have they come from within SAPOL?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: It has been a combination of redeploying some staff from other roles and also bringing people into the organisation as short-term contractors, but I need to make it clear that, should Adelaide win, that team of six to eight will expand exponentially to fully scope out what is required and then that of itself will be a much smaller effort to actually conducting the policing task for the conference.

Mr BATTY: Have any SAPOL resources been diverted from domestic violence to prepare for COP31?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: There has been no negative impact to existing tasks or duties. There was an assistant commissioner and an officer of police who were involved with the royal commission into domestic violence whose involvement has wound down as that commission has got to the stage of the commissioner finalising her recommendations. As they have no longer been required for that particular task, they have been transferred onto the COP31 task.

Mr BATTY: Have any SAPOL resources been diverted from tackling youth crime to prepare for COP31?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No dedicated resources from youth crime have been diverted from that task in terms of COP31.

Mr BATTY: So for the six to eight people, how many of them are existing resources and what tasks were they doing, or would they be doing, if we were not preparing for COP31?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am advised that one has come from external to SAPOL's staffing complement as a contractor. Two have returned from leave who were on leave pending retirement. They have come back to duties to assist with this particular task. The remaining staff have been reallocated from other work in the same vein that SAPOL is currently moving its resources around to meet whatever the demands of the day are.

Mr BATTY: How many police officers are on leave pending retirement?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I will take that on notice. It is not unusual, either for South Australia Police or in other areas of the public sector, that when people are getting towards their retirement they might choose to use their long service leave entitlement before finally finishing up and so on. I actually think whoever those two are, it is a credit to them. They have chosen to go for one last drive around the block, so to speak, on duties.

Mr BATTY: As the preparatory work for COP starts to ramp up, will the additional resources coming on board be additional or will they be coming from elsewhere within SAPOL to undertake that preparatory task?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I think it will be a combination. The task will be to bring as many people on board to SAPOL who have the requisite specialist skills that can assist in this task. It may be similar to those two people who have returned from leave—experienced police officers who have a familiarity with what is required in planning for these sorts of major events—but there will also be a number to be determined of police with the necessary planning and project management skills who will be brought in from other parts of the organisation, who can contribute as well.

Mr BATTY: If South Australia is successful in securing COP, do we have an idea of how many additional police will be required for that task?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: We do not really have an estimate at this point in time. It will be very significant, and we would anticipate that the Police Assistance to Neighbouring States (PANS) agreement would be triggered so that police from other jurisdictions would come across to assist. The commissioner has been at pains to emphasise to me, and to the government, just how significant the policing task and the overall security task is for the event, which would trigger a significant contingent coming from interstate.

Mr BATTY: Over what timeframe would that significant impact be? Obviously, it will ramp up towards an ultimate date.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: My understanding is that it is scheduled for November next year. The conference usually runs for two to three weeks, and then there is a bump-in and bump-out period. I think I am right in saying that the lead-up time will be a longer period of time than the wind-down—particularly if we are taking officers from other jurisdictions, they will want to return to their home jurisdictions as quickly as possible—but we do not have a firm estimate at this point in time. We will know more once (a) we find out obviously if we are getting it, and (b) we understand what the scope and the scale of the conference is going to look like.

Mr BATTY: In terms of SAPOL's own commitment to that, as opposed to interstate jurisdictions assisting, what pressure will that place on our resources for that month and where will those pressures most be felt? Where will officers be coming from to work on COP?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: That is to be determined by that planning team. Obviously, there is going to be an impact, but part of the planning task will be to understand what the minimum requirements are for the South Australian community itself which then, of course, informs how many officers we would seek to come to South Australia under the PANS agreement as well. We are probably just not at that point yet where we can understand the number of officers and then hence how it is going to be staffed and from where.

Mr BATTY: Do you think we have enough police officers to host COP?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: No, and that is why we will have to trigger the PANS agreement and bring them in from other places around the country. There is myriad considerations with this. If you look at the COPs which are held in—how can I put it—European countries where lots and lots of countries are very close by and readily accessible to one another, then there has to be a commensurately larger policing and security contingent because you have all of the activists of Europe making themselves available for the conference; whereas, given our geographic isolation, that may not be as necessary.

It is an enormous task to sail in an unpowered boat from some of these other countries to Australia, for example. That might mean that it is not quite to the same scale as what we have seen in other places around the world.

Mr BATTY: How many new police officers does this budget fund ahead of the COP conference?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I think in the previous budget measure you saw the FTE impact in 2025-26 and 2026-27. There is no illusion that the additional funding to increase the overall complement of South Australia Police is going to make any meaningful contribution towards the overall task of COP. That is why we will have to trigger that PANS agreement and seek officers from other jurisdictions. Probably the only thing I would say is the extent to which the motor cycle police are brought on will be one element of it, given looking after dignitaries and motorcades and all that kind of stuff.

Mr BATTY: Budget Paper 4, Volume 3, page 188, the investing expenditure summary and the long-running saga of the SA Police barracks relocation, as well as the separate line item of the Gepps Cross relocation. Are these projects now complete?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: There are 15 business units that were relocated from the Thebarton precinct. Obviously, the most visible relocation effort has been for the horses and I think dogs and the band, and road safety down to West Beach. The other 10 or so have been relocated to a number of different areas. They have taken out a long-term lease in Blackburn House on Grenfell Street for a number of the business units. There are three which we are considering the Netley precinct for, and they are the traffic camera unit, the armoury and just some miscellaneous storage requirements. Obviously, committing as I did to deliver the redevelopment of the courts precinct, there is the staging area on Carrington Street as well.

Mr BATTY: Yes, the legal profession is delighted. There are two different line items then. Does the SA Police barracks relocation relate to those other business units that have not moved to Gepps Cross effectively?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Yes.

Mr BATTY: What was the total cost of the Gepps Cross relocation, to move the horses and the other business units to Gepps Cross?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I think it is as it is set out in that line, so that $95.1 million and the $67.5 million for the other business units that have gone elsewhere.

Mr BATTY: And that will be the total cost?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: That is my advice, and that is where that figure of $162 million or whatever it is has come from.

Mr BATTY: Does that include the city staging area?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Yes.

Mr BATTY: How many police are in the Mounted Operations Unit?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I will take it on notice. I think there are 32 horses and the complement is not too dissimilar for the number of police, and then there are stable hands and other staff who are not sworn officers out on the horses themselves.

Mr BATTY: Have any police in the Mounted Operations Unit left SAPOL in the last year and, if so, how many?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I will have to take that on notice. I mean, yes, we are aware of people leaving through retirement and so on, but I will provide what breakdown I can.

Mr BATTY: Can you provide a little bit more detail about when the horses are staged in the city? Is it just on the weekends or is it every night? How does it work, and how does that compare with how the unit used to operate?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The sort of operational deployment of the horses themselves in the city has not changed. Obviously, the purpose of the staging area is so that there is an operating base for the horses to come from when they are being deployed in the CBD. I do not think I have prospective information about when they are due to be deployed in the city because it will just depend on what the operational considerations of the day are. Presumably it will not be in September around Adelaide Oval, but there might be demonstrations on the steps of Parliament House and that sort of thing, as well as the ongoing patrol type and community safety duties which are undertaken in other parts of the CBD generally.

Mr BATTY: In terms of that sort of ordinary patrolling though, has that changed? Obviously, they are a bit further away now. Is there a difference?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: My advice is it has not changed the presence of the horses in the CBD; it has changed the way in which they operate because they are obviously brought into the CBD to the staging area. When they are deployed in the CBD, they leave the staging area on that task or deployment.

Mr BATTY: Have any officers in the Mounted Operations Unit raised concerns about the relocation to Gepps Cross?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Absolutely. Initially. But only on Tuesday, I think it was, I bumped into Senior Sergeant Kelly-Anne Taylor who was one of the staff who was Officer in Charge of Mounted Operations. She indicated how much of a terrific improvement in facilities the Gepps Cross facilities are, particularly given the age of the facilities that were at Thebarton before the relocation.

Mr BATTY: Has the South Australian Police Historical Society relocated to its new premises?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: My understanding is that they are due to move in before Christmas. There is quite a bit of refurbishment and fit-out works that need to be undertaken in the site that has been provided for them on the corner of Sturt Street and King William Street, I think it is. That work is ongoing. They will get in before Christmas and then there will have to be some continued fit-out and treatment works even after they have moved in.

Mr BATTY: Has there been a delay to their move?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I think certainly it took us some time initially to find the appropriate location for them. There were a number of sites which quite a bit of time and effort were put into investigating whether they were suitable or not. We identified a retail premises on Port Road at Thebarton which ultimately proved to be unsuitable because it was not physically big enough for the collection. Even the location that has been identified now, which is really attractive from a location perspective and from a size perspective, we have had to work with the landlord on a structural issue which became apparent after entering into the lease, which has held back the timing to some extent. At least it is on track now. It is important not just to maintain public access to the collection. Obviously, we are talking about some really dedicated former officers who give their time voluntarily to this. We did not want them being lost to the effort because it was taking too long.

Mr BATTY: I refer to page 189 of the Agency Statement, a target to continue to respond to community needs and demands. One of those increasing demands we talk about is police conveying particularly mental health patients to hospitals. What is the estimated number of conveyances by SAPOL to approved treatment centres in this budget year that is about to end?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: My advice is we can provide that figure. In fact, I think a similar figure has been provided previously, but we just have not got it with us, so we will take it on notice.

Mr BATTY: The 2023 memorandum of understanding about these issues says that SAPOL resources should be considered as an option of last resort. Is this occurring?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Yes, I think that is still the case. Police resourcing is still the option of last resort, even though it is happening. There is a body of work that is done on an ongoing basis with Health to try to make sure that police are only used as a last resort. Obviously, the co-responder model, which has been successful, has been not only continued in this budget but expanded to other service areas in the metropolitan area. I am advised that has been really successful both from a police but also Health's perspective, as well as from the individual who has been responded to. Certainly, the advice that was given to me by the mental health staff I met with when we announced the policy was that having an experienced mental health clinician and a police officer usually means that the person can stay in their own home rather than having to come into a health facility or some other treatment facility.

Mr BATTY: In answers provided to the Budget and Finance Committee, SAPOL noted, 'Due to the ongoing demand for SAPOL services in the conveyance of mental health consumers, the process should be reviewed to identify efficiencies for SAPOL.' Has this process been reviewed?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am advised that that effort is ongoing and that there is actually a body of work which is underway within South Australia Police trying to identify further options to minimise the use of police resources for these callouts or taskings.

Mr BATTY: When do we expect that review or body of work to be complete?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: We do not have a timeframe at this point in time, but it would be just dependent on the progress of the work and the initiatives that are identified in it.

Mr BATTY: At page 192 there is a highlight of continued emphasis on reducing crime. I think this is been framed as a so-called 'law and order budget'. Do we have a crime problem in South Australia?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: All crime is a problem. That is why we have a police force. What we are doing is making sure that we are giving our police force the resources it needs to combat the problem as effectively as possible. What I would say is South Australia not only enjoys the services of the best police force in the nation but, to date, we have successfully avoided some of the problems that have come into being in other places around the country where crime has got out of control. One of the things we are hoping for, as a result of the additional resourcing in this budget and the efforts that police are undertaking, is that we steer clear of those sorts of problems in our state.

Mr BATTY: Are you satisfied if we just simply have less crime than interstate?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I do not have the numbers in front of me. For example, I know from the ABS data that we have the lowest number of youth offenders of any state or territory, and it is reducing. We publish our crime statistics monthly and you can observe movements in statistics from month to month. You can see in other places around the country where crime and certain types of crime have got out of control, and we simply have not had the same sorts of problems in South Australia.

Of course, as I said in my first answer, any crime is a problem. That is why you invest in having a professional, capable, highly regarded police force in the way that we do, and we have to continue reviewing how we support our police to make sure that these issues do not get out of control like they have elsewhere around the country.

Mr BATTY: You talk about youth crime going down. The SAPOL management proposal that I referred to before, dated April this year, talks about each police jurisdiction seeing an increase in youth offending. Separately, there has been an increase of 11 per cent in South Australia in 2022-23. Has it gone down since that time are you saying?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I am saying that the ABS reports that we have the lowest number of youth offenders of any jurisdiction on the basis that they record them. In terms of offences being recorded, when you have asked me previous questions about whether there are particular cohorts or gangs, for want of a better term, which have been identified who are responsible for promulgating this type of criminal activity, that is something that police are not only aware of but actively resourcing to combat, and those efforts will continue.

I reiterate the point that we seem to be performing much better in South Australia than in other parts of the country. One of the reasons that we stepped up resourcing in this budget is to make sure that, while we have had such a terrific record over many years in South Australia with our police force, we do not want to see that change and fall into the sorts of troubles that we have seen in other places around the country.

Mr BATTY: Page 194 of the budget has some activity indicators, including on crime. The first one shows the number of recorded offences against the person per 1,000 head of population, and it shows it rising from 15.3 to 15.9. Is this crime going up or crime going down?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The total number of offences recorded in the crime statistics month on month continues to fall. What we see, though, is that there are certain categories of offences against the person that continue to increase, while other categories of crime, including against property, continue to fall. When you have particular areas of criminal activity that are showing specific trends, you can understand why the commissioner is allocating resources accordingly in order to combat that type of crime.

These are statistics within an overall set of crime figures that show that crime is going down. What we are recognising in these figures and what our monthly crime statistics recognise is that there are some types of criminal activity that have increased, and the budget and South Australia Police are allocating additional resources accordingly.

Mr BATTY: On a different and perhaps final topic, police security officers and numbers, I have some similar questions to what I started with. How many police security officers is the current funded amount and how many do we currently have? Also, how many police security officers were recruited over the last year and how many left over the last year?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: We currently have 330 funded and we are about 60 short of that. There is a much higher attrition rate for PSOs, including those leaving to become police officers, for example. Of the 60, 40 were separations or people who left and 20 went on to become police officers. During the course of this financial year, we have had 55 recruits. Of course, given the previous 189 extra PSOs and the 98 funded in this budget, we will have those same efforts to catch up to fund the complement and then increase the overall number of PSOs into the future as well.

The CHAIR: Time having expired, I declare the examination of the proposed payments for South Australia Police now complete. Thank you to everyone who has attended today: all the advisers, the minister, the members of the opposition and members of the government. A lot of work goes into estimates and we appreciate the fact that a lot of work does go into estimates. I also thank the parliamentary officers who have to sit with me all through the day, and the security officer up the top there, who also has to sit for many hours.


At 18:01 the committee adjourned to Friday 20 June 2025 at 09:00.


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