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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-07-22 Daily Xml
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POLICE RESOURCES

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (14:29): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: I would like to place on record the landmark achieved by South Australia Police of recruiting more than 4,000 officers. As of 30 June 2008, there are 4,144 full-time equivalent officers in South Australia—443 more sworn officers than when the Rann government came into office in 2002. A further 158 cadets in training at the Fort Largs Academy will graduate by the end of this year.

As Minister for Police, I am honoured to be a member of a government that has delivered on a commitment to bolster police numbers to their highest level in the state's history. In the current budget, this government is again investing taxpayers' money to provide SAPOL with the resources that police officers need to stay on top of the criminal element in our society.

However, some people refuse to acknowledge the government's achievements. Some people want to pretend that these additional police are some sort of fiction, some sort of government spin, rather than real flesh and blood, but they are real, and you do not have to take my word for it.

I understand that the Commissioner of Police during yesterday's Budget and Finance Committee gave a comprehensive report on the issue of police numbers. The Commissioner also made the point that about 90 per cent of our officers are in operational roles. This is the highest percentage in the nation.

The opposition not only continues to quote 12-month-old figures, but what is more concerning is that members opposite continue to mislead the South Australian public. If they bothered to check with the Productivity Commission, they would find that the number of 127 non- operational staff is in addition to the 3,842 sworn operational officers quoted in that report. That brings the total number of police in South Australia in 30 June 2007—the figures that they want to quote, 12 months out of date—to 3,969 officers. This is in stark contrast to when this government came to office in 2002. Back then, SAPOL was demoralised and starved of resources; police numbers had been cut and police stations had been shuttered. This neglect was not without consequences.

On the Liberals' watch, not only were police resources gutted but crime in South Australia rose by a staggering 31 per cent. Police statistics show that, in 1994-95, 156,661 offences were reported, dramatically rising to 206,474 by 2001-02. Murder increased, serious assault went up, as did minor assault, and there were more criminal trespass offences. Theft of motor vehicles rose by an amazing 95.6 per cent. But now we have an opposition that is totally shameless in its criticism of this government's achievements. At every opportunity, members opposite rush to claim that there are not enough police officers on Adelaide streets. They were at it again this morning on ABC Radio—misleading, despite the record number of serving police in this state.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: Where are they?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, we know where they were when you were in office: they didn't exist, because you did not have them. The Liberal opposition simply has no credibility on law and order after cutting police numbers, shutting stations and driving up crime rates during its term of office. Yet, every time there is an incident of violent crime in South Australia, the opposition trots out in front of the microphone to claim that this latest incident is somehow due to a lack of police resources. This is a nonsense argument. Rushing to blame the police every time a crime is committed in the state makes about as much sense as blaming a shortage of doctors every time someone gets a cold.

It is high time that the opposition told the South Australian public exactly how many officers are to be recruited into the police force by the Liberals because, at the moment, we only have its very barren track record on which to judge it. That is why today I am challenging the opposition to nominate exactly how many police will be recruited each year if there were a future Liberal government. The reporters on talkback radio in this city do not seem interested in asking this important question, so I will ask it here in this place. Until the opposition is prepared to do that, its constant carping should be ignored as empty rhetoric in search of a cheap headline.

The opposition's criticism of policing in this state simply underlines the lack of confidence it has in the ability of police to do their job. I would like to remind the opposition that, under this government as per longstanding convention, day-to-day operational decisions are made by South Australian police free from political interference. Unlike the opposition, I have full confidence in the Commissioner of Police to get the job done and to allocate resources as he sees fit without having a minister barking orders from the back seat.

This government accepts that the role of Minister for Police is to provide the necessary legislative and resourcing tools our police officers need to get the job done. Yet, we seem to have an opposition that constantly knows better than the Commissioner for Police. We have an opposition that knows better than the experts when it comes to which firearms should be adopted as a standard issue by our police officers. We have an opposition that knows better than the experts who should be equipped with a taser and how and when they should be used. We have an opposition which says there are not enough police patrols in the city but which, in the next breath, calls for more police to be transferred from the city to country postings.

We have an opposition spokesman who already sees himself as the state's top cop trying to tell police where resources are best directed to combat crime or claiming that, if they are not out on patrol, they are not doing their job. There are now more police on the beat, using more pro-active policing methods, with more administrative staff supporting them.

We should not forget that, at the last election, it was the Hon. Rob Lucas who pledged to cut 4,000 public sector workers. These cuts would have inevitably cut into the work of police, which means they would have spent less time fighting crime and more time in the office. I also heard the opposition leader, Mr Martin Hamilton-Smith, on FIVEaa radio the other day denigrating the work of South Australia Police. He said, 'They are just not getting the results.' This government does not consider a reduction in crime rates of more than 18 per cent since 2002-03 as not getting results. Our record in office includes falls in crime rates of 5.8 per cent in 2005-06; 6.6 per cent in 2004-05; 7.2 per cent in 2003-04; and 2.8 per cent in 2002-03.

When this opposition is not criticising the police about their priorities, it is dismissive of the police strategy to reduce the carnage on our roads as mere revenue raising. It is easy to jump on a populist bandwagon but, as a responsible government, we understand the necessary deterrent that traffic fines and speed cameras provide in the campaign to keep our roads safe. Rather than continuing to run down the good work of our police officers for petty political purposes, the Liberals should be thanking them for making South Australia a safer place to live in and a place where they are achieving results.

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