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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-04-08 Daily Xml
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NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

The Hon. R.D. LAWSON (15:19): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police a question on Neighbourhood Watch.

Leave granted.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. R.D. LAWSON: If I were defending workers' rights as you were, I would not be running again. One of the first acts of the Rann government in 2002-03 was to substantially reduce expenditure on crime prevention programs. That funding has never been restored. One of the important elements in crime prevention in this state has for many years been the Neighbourhood Watch program and other watch programs such as Transit Watch, Health Watch, Business Watch, School Watch, but particularly Neighbourhood Watch.

As a result of a review of crime prevention conducted last year by the South Australia Police, the independence and indeed the importance of Neighbourhood Watch has been diminished. It has been taken out of the community programs branch and lumped with a number of other programs into a new crime prevention branch, presumably for the purpose of cutting costs. That branch now includes the Programs' Support Branch, the Crime Reduction Section, the Alcohol Policy Section and the Victims Policy Section. A number of volunteers have expressed concerns to me that their organisation is being downgraded.

A new constitution for volunteers of the association, now renamed the Neighbourhood Watch Volunteers Association of South Australia Incorporated, has further distanced the community volunteers from police officers who serve and support Neighbourhood Watch. I am advised that the number of participants in Neighbourhood Watch programs is declining. My questions to the minister are:

1. What savings have been made as a result of this review of crime prevention?

2. What additional resources have been put into Neighbourhood Watch and the watch programs generally?

3. Is it the case that the number of volunteers participating in watch programs in South Australia is declining?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (15:22): There are a number of bits of opinion in the questions asked by the Hon—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, no; some of it is inaccurate opinion, actually, in relation to resources. The Neighbourhood Watch movement has served this state very well over some 25 years or so. However, like all programs, after 25 years, society is changing and evolving, and we need to ensure that programs such as Neighbourhood Watch and other volunteer programs are current and relevant, and that is exactly what SAPOL has been doing. SAPOL has initiated considerable reform through Project Compass where it has aimed to forecast and respond to this changing environment and improve the service delivery to the public.

The Project Compass terms of reference included a review of police volunteers. SAPOL and the Rann government have embraced volunteering as an integral part of community engagement and formal partnerships with the community. We I think more than any other government appreciate the contribution that volunteers make. We regularly hear my colleague the Minister of Emergency Services singing the praises—and rightfully so—of the Country Fire Service and other volunteers in the state—emergency services, and the like. Of course, this government actually has a Minister for Volunteers, the Hon. Jennifer Rankine, who does a great job in going around the state ensuring that the role that volunteers play is recognised.

SAPOL has a long and proud history of and commitment to volunteering. Traditionally, this has been through not only groups and organisations such as Neighbourhood Watch, School Watch, Hospital Watch, Business Watch and Rural Watch (now collectively known as WatchSA) but also through the Police Rangers and Blue Light.

In recent years, another strand of volunteering within policing has emerged. Volunteers are used extensively to support events and special initiatives such as the International Police Tattoo, SAPOL and Emergency Services Games, and the Police Expo, plus providing practical support to SAPOL members in a myriad of roles supporting crime prevention and community safety initiatives. One could talk about community policing, public relations (for example, the Police Historical Society), school programs, events and promotions, role players, and police chaplains as well.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Isn't it amazing? They ask these questions, but they are not interested in the answer. The South Australian Volunteer Protection Act, the South Australian government's Advancing the Community Together—a partnership between the volunteer sector and the South Australian government, and the South Australian Strategic Plan reinforce the commitment to volunteerism. Indeed, volunteerism is central to this government's state plan, which sets a target to increase the level of volunteerism from 38 per cent in 2000 to 50 per cent in 2010.

As outlined above, volunteers have been of assistance to SAPOL for a number of years in a considerable number of differing roles. The intent and focus of SAPOL's volunteer program is to foster community engagement and to provide a framework for a coherent, managed and coordinated approach to volunteering across SAPOL.

The success of Neighbourhood Watch and similar volunteer-based initiatives over many years shows that there is a role for the community to work with South Australia Police. Indeed, the police would not be able to function effectively in preventing and dealing with crime without the support and cooperation of the public and the vital information received from the community through Crime Stoppers. The recent outlaw motorcycle gang phone-in has greatly assisted SAPOL to pursue its criminal investigations.

The government is always prepared to consider any initiatives that the Police Commissioner may have to improve the effectiveness of SAPOL, but SAPOL has advised (in the announcement to which the honourable member referred in his question) that it is doing no more than putting in place a framework to manage and ensure the effective use of existing volunteers and, after 25-plus years of Neighbourhood Watch, it is appropriate that it does so.

SAPOL has always adopted a conservative approach to the use of volunteers compared with many other jurisdictions here in Australia and overseas. In some places, such as the UK, volunteers are actually in uniform and on the beat as special constables, and in other places in the world, such as Canada, volunteers actually staff police stations.

We have always had a conservative approach to the use of volunteers, but this government, more than any other, recognises the importance of volunteers generally, not just to SAPOL but right across the board, and we have in many ways recognised the contribution that they make.

So, it is just not correct for the honourable member to suggest in his question in any way that this government is seeking in some way to downgrade the contribution of volunteers to policing; rather, SAPOL is seeking to ensure that the use of volunteers gives the best value for the community in terms of making our community safer.

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