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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-03-08 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Police Staffing

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:27): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police a question about sworn police officers.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: A key election commitment of this Labor government was to recruit an additional 313 police officers by 30 June 2018. That would amount to 4,713 sworn officers by that date. Minister, you, the Premier and the commissioner have stated that this target is about getting police out from behind desks and onto the front line. My questions are:

1. Are you still committed to the 4,713 sworn police officers by 30 June 2018?

2. What is your definition of 'front line', and how many more officers will actually be on the front line at that point?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:28): I thank the honourable member for his very important question. There are a number of elements to it, and I will attempt to deal with them all.

Firstly, the police commissioner is undertaking a very important review of SAPOL's operations generally. This is an important exercise. A substantial internal review within SAPOL hasn't been conducted for some time, and our police commissioner, Mr Stevens, is working incredibly hard with senior members of the leadership team across SAPOL to ensure that SAPOL is continuing to offer outstanding service to the people of South Australia in keeping them safe.

In conjunction with that review, of course, remains this government's commitment to increase the number of police officers that we have out on the ground. This government is very proud of its record when it comes to policing. This government has dramatically increased the size of the police budget—an amount in the order of about 9 per cent per annum each and every year since this government has been elected to office. We have increased the number of police officers, we have increased the wages of police officers, and this government remains committed to increasing the number of police officers on the ground, consistent with our commitment that was made at the 2014 state election.

The operational review that is being undertaken by SAPOL internally enjoys the wholehearted support of me as police minister and the government more broadly. The aim of that review is to ensure that with increasing police resources, including the number of police officers made available to SAPOL as a whole, we maximise the efficiency and the delivery of services that South Australians reasonably expect from the police force.

The government remains on track and committed to our Recruit 313 target, which in conjunction with the internal review to be conducted by SAPOL organisationally will ensure that South Australians remain safe, have one of the best resourced police forces in the country and of course remain at the top of the pack when it comes to the number of police officers serving our community per capita, which at the moment is already the best in the country of any state in the land.

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