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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-02-26 Daily Xml
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POLICE RESOURCES

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:24): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police—

The Hon. R.P. Wortley interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: Since when have you been running the show?

The PRESIDENT: Order! You have 59 seconds left. I suggest you run really fast.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: Thank you, Mr President. I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police a question about police resources.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: Since 2003 there have been 26 patrol vehicles available to South Australian police officers throughout the Adelaide CBD. In five years this number has increased by only one vehicle. Police minister Holloway would have us know that, due to the Rann government's ongoing commitment to increase police numbers to record levels, patrols in the Adelaide CBD have risen by eight since it came to government. However, this is not the point. We are not providing the resources or the vehicles to match that.

The point is that, with gang-related crime and violence increasing in Adelaide city and with the real and not perceived threat of bikie gangs menacing the state and Adelaide city, our front-line officers are being left behind with resources. When will the police minister and the Rann government commit to assisting our front-line officers and providing more resources and thus more confidence in policing the streets of Adelaide and South Australia?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (15:25): The people of South Australia have great confidence in our police, and that was shown by the recent survey published in the Productivity Commission and on which I answered a question in this parliament in the previous sitting week. The public have confidence because the police of this state have been given record resources under this government. If the honourable member wants us to go back in history, I am happy to refer to the fact that in the mid-1990s police numbers in this state got down to just over 3,400 personnel. That is the history of the matter. If the honourable member wants to go back in history, I am happy to do so. The police have never been as well resourced as they are now, both in numbers and in the facilities available to them.

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