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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-05-25 Daily Xml
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Police Stations

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (15:03): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police a question regarding the reduction in operating hours of local police stations.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: On Monday of this week, the City of Salisbury unanimously passed a motion in relation to SAPOL's Organisational Reform Program following a lack of any response from the police commissioner to their calls to retain the current operating hours for local police stations. The motion read:

1. The report be received.

2. That a submission to be submitted to the SAPOL Organisational Reform Program by 27 May 2016 outlining council's concerns with the proposed reforms summarised as follows, and requesting the Commissioner not proceed with the proposed reforms in relation to the Salisbury, Holden Hill and Golden Grove police stations:

(a) lack of details of the specific usage data for the Salisbury, Holden Hill and Golden Grove police stations, particularly in relation to after-hours demand, that demonstrates that the local community will not be adversely affected by proposed changes in opening hours;

(b) likely detrimental impacts on community safety, as the presence of an operating police station impacts the real and perceived safety of a community and the relative importance of a police station isn't uniform across all offence groups and the importance of police stations in reporting crime increases for more serious crimes;

(c) A reduction in customer service availability, particularly for members of the community who are unable to attend a Police station during normal working hours;

(d) A lack of rationale aligning SAPOL operating hours to other government agencies, given the unique nature of services provided by SAPOL;

(e) Assurances are required of the numbers and extent of officers returning to frontline duty, should the proposed reduction in operating hours and the expected improvement to community safety; and

(f) The need to maintain meaningful connections with the community via a locally-based policing presence that is accessible to the community.

My question is: does the minister consider that the significant concerns raised by the City of Salisbury are valid?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:05): I thank the honourable member for his question and interest in the Salisbury police station, which I think he has mentioned on more than one occasion. Let me be clear about what it is that the police commissioner is undertaking here.

The police commissioner is the person, as we all know, who ultimately is responsible for the South Australian police force, and he is undertaking a thorough organisational review of the way SAPOL conducts itself. I know that some members opposite are seeing this as an opportunity to score some political points. I would be incredibly concerned about such an approach, because what we want is for SAPOL to be no different from any other modern organisation in the community.

I do not take the view that somehow SAPOL should not be treated like everybody else. We expect all departments within government, as with all organisations in the private sector, to be constantly reviewing themselves to make sure they are able to deliver the services the community reasonably expects, and SAPOL should not be immune from examining itself to ensure it is doing it. So, when the police commissioner undertakes an exercise in doing that, that is thought through, evidence based and methodical, we should be supporting the police commissioner in undertaking that exercise.

Of course it is appropriate, and is my expectation, that the police commissioner will take into account the public's view when it comes to this issue, which is exactly why the police commissioner has written to all members of parliament and has written to local government, asking them to submit any views or thoughts they had about policing in their local communities, particularly in the context of police station hours, which is exactly why the Salisbury council, to which the honourable member refers, is able to submit its views, its thoughts, its questions and its concerns to the police commissioner for him to be able to take into account during the course of his considerations.

But, the prism through which I hope, trust and understand the police commissioner is making all his decisions is, first and foremost, community safety. Community safety has to be the priority that the police commissioner puts to the top of the list. So, if the police commissioner, having had the opportunity to get feedback from the local community and of course from other members of SAPOL, then decides to amend police station hours over here or adjust them over there, I very much hope that he enjoys the support of the entire parliament. If it is well thought though, if it is evidence based, if its objective is community safety and if its objective is delivering more front-line services to the local community in Salisbury, then I would very much hope that is something that the Hon. Mr Dawkins, along with every other member opposite, would seek to endorse and support, rather than trying to score political points. It is a review that is being undertaken.

I wait for the police commissioner to conclude that exercise. Once he does, of course the outcome will be made public, but I endorse the police commissioner going through the process of considering what is going on with police station hours. It is a worthwhile exercise, and it is important for everybody to remind themselves that no-one is being arrested by an officer who is sitting behind a desk, so if the objective is to take someone out from behind the desk and put them on the front line—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: Sometimes someone walks in and decides to confess at 3 o'clock in the morning, then, sure—

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire interjecting:

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: Otherwise, we want police officers out on the beat. We are a government that has seen a massive—

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: We are a government that has seen a massive—

The PRESIDENT: Order! Minister, sit down. The Hon. Mr Brokenshire, that is quite disrespectful, with such a loud voice; it is not even a little interjection.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: Yes, I know, because I get frustrated.

The PRESIDENT: That's right; you take your frustrations out somewhere else. Allow the minister to answer the question without your interjection.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: I know the Hon. Mr Brokenshire is frustrated. He has been frustrated ever since he lost the police portfolio, and we have been fixing up the mess ever since. We have been a government—not yours—that has been increasing police numbers, that has delivered more services to the community and made our community safer. We just want to make sure that as police numbers go up, so too does the efficiency, the expeditiousness that we would reasonably expect of our police force, which is why we support the police commissioner in his police station hours review.

The PRESIDENT: Supplementary, the Hon. Mr Dawkins.

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