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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-05-24 Daily Xml
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South Australia Police

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:10): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police a question about policing resources in the SAPOL Murray Mallee Local Service Area.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: At a recent Murray Mallee LGA meeting, Murray Mallee LSA officer, Superintendent James Blandford, stated that the crime rate in the Murray Mallee has increased by 7 per cent compared to last year, and the past 12 months were the busiest he had experienced in some time. He said extra resources were sent to the region to elevate the backlog of work.

My diligent colleague in the other place, Mr Tim Whetstone (member for Chaffey) has raised serious concerns about whether police numbers in the Murray Mallee area are adequate, given the increasing crime reports in the region. The member for Chaffey also stated that the:

…impact of drug use had been detrimental to the community [and] the use of illegal drugs is adversely impacting not just our youth or disadvantaged, but right across the community.

My questions to the minister are:

1. Can the minister advise what level of police numbers are currently operating in the Murray Mallee LSA, and is this an increase from the previous years? If so, by how many?

2. How many extra SAPOL officers have been sent to the Murray Mallee as a top-up resource to elevate the backlog of work in 2015-16, and how often over the past 12 months were the top-up resources required?

3. Will the minister be directing more police resources to the Murray Mallee LSA, given the region has reported increasing crime in country South Australia?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:12): Thank you very much to the honourable member for her important questions. There are a number of components to the honourable member's questions. The first thing is that I am very glad to be able to report that I have had the pleasure of going to the LSA to which the honourable member refers, and have taken the time to talk to officers on the ground about some of the challenges they are facing.

It is true—and the honourable member is right to point out—that there is a substantial challenge in many of our regional communities regarding drugs. Drugs remain an all-pervasive problem in some of our regional communities, and this is particularly true with the increased presence of ice, which is an incredibly dangerous drug within our community, and one that a lot of time and effort from SAPOL, working nationally and coordinating internationally to try to address.

Regarding the specific LSA numbers, I do not have those at hand, but I am more than happy to take the honourable member's question on notice and find out. I should be able to find out rather quickly and inform her of the number of officers that are currently working within the LSA to which she refers, and answer the specific questions that she has asked.

What I would say, regarding police numbers generally, is that this government remains committed to having a well-resourced police force. We are a government that, for a sustained period of time throughout our time in government, has been dramatically increasing the number of police officers employed by SAPOL. It is an important principle, and one that we remain committed to.

Of course, that investment in increased resources within SAPOL, particularly with a larger number of officers, has resulted in a very positive trend when it comes to crime statistics in South Australia, which is obviously a component of the honourable member's question. For instance, I will refer the honourable member to the fact that—these are approximate numbers that nevertheless should be relatively accurate, I am advised—over the last 10 years (that is, between the 2004-05 financial year to the 2014-15 financial year) offences against property have been reduced by 38.3 per cent. That is an incredible achievement, and one that our hardworking men and women who are working with SAPOL on the ground deserve a lot of credit for, I think.

But I also do think that this is a government that deserves a degree of credit as well. What I referred to only last week, when I had an opportunity to address the Police Association, was that in order to have policing policy working well, there are three key pillars that need to be operating and working comprehensively together. They, of course, are the men and women who are employed by SAPOL, the senior leadership within SAPOL and having adequate representation for the men and women employed by SAPOL, and of course government.

I think that in South Australia, for the better part of a decade and hopefully for many years to come, we have had those three pillars working incredibly hard to achieve the sort of result that I just referred to. I thank the honourable member for her question. I am happy to come back with the specifics regarding the precise number of officers currently employed regarding the relevant LSA, and I will attempt to get that information to you as quickly as possible.

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