Hospital security, Sporting Violence, Road Toll, Policing - Radio Comments - Monday 9 January 2012

Rob Brokenshire, Family First MLC (5AA 11.07-11.15) Hospital violence / Violence in sport / Road safety


(Pantelis: We are talking with Rob Brokenshire ... on a couple of issues – one is hospital violence, the other is the road toll ... Happy New Year. Good morning ... just tell us about the problems that your constituents are telling you?)

Well, I’m having constituents, both professionals working within the health industry sector and also people that go to E&D for support of a loved one that needs assistance or indeed for their own assistance ... they’ve been talking to me for some time about their concerns and some of the behaviour that they see in these Emergency Departments ... I did some work on ... the Women’s & Children’s as an example where the Government are now spending a million dollars a year, Matthew, on security ... I support the fact that the Government are doing that at the moment because there’s no alternative to that in the short term ... we have to keep our nurses, doctors, auxiliary staff and the patients ... safe, but I am concerned that ... there are millions and millions of dollars being spent on security officers ... when you look at the figures there’s an escalation year in, year out over the last 5 years or thereabouts of incidents, serious incidents in our hospitals ... we need to actually drill into that ... find out what is causing this increased violent behaviour in our hospital system.

For other coverage on the Hospital Violence issue:

• $1m a year spent on stopping violence at Women's and Children's Hospital - David Jean - Adelaide Advertiser / Adelaide Now - story here
• Hospital's Million Dollar Protection Bill - ABC Adelaide - story here

 (Pantelis: Well it’s not just hospitals ... there’s road rage on the rise ... campaign started – One Punch Can Kill – for instance ... it seems to be prevalent everywhere in society. I mean could the same reason behind road rage be the same reason as to why violence is now a factor in hospitals?)

 I’m sure Matthew that you’re right to a certain extent ... this is the problem. We’re seeing a breakdown in standards, values generally across the board in society ... if we are to go on the bandaid measure, if I can put it that way, where we have to have more arrests, we have to have more security officers, etcetera, and not start to address the deep ... strategic analysis of what’s going wrong with society then I just think we’re going to be on ... the wrong track long term ... there’s certainly been an increase ... you see it in bullying and harassment at schools, you hear more about teachers being threatened and assaulted ... what I’m calling on the Government to do is to actually spend some money and probably a year or two of detailed study on this to actually see why there’s been an increase across society, particularly in our health system ... what we can do ... it may well be that some of it’s going to take a long time ... we may have to do a lot more with, you know, development of Keep Safe, Stay Cool programs in schools, those types of things as well ... we’re seeing it in sport as well I might add ... we really do I think have to this year have a look at why we’ve got this happening ... not just put more money into ... security and police officers but the root cause of the problem.

 (Pantelis: You mentioned sport ... you had legislation ... mid last year actually when there was a brawl on a soccer pitch at North Adelaide ... you were suggesting legislation there to ban that sort of conduct. How did that get on?)

Responses to Family First's
"Violence on the Sporting Field"
Discussion Paper were being
collated in early 2012

Well, I’ve actually put a draft paper out to all sectors of sporting industry across South Australia ... we’ve had some good reaction from that ... we’re now analysing the submissions ... the intent would be to then consider tabling the legislation once I’ve gone through all of that, but you know that was done on the back of a government policy, a Labor Government policy as well back at the last election where they’ve identified concerns about violence in sport ... it’s one thing to identify that we’ve got an increase in this violence and unacceptable behaviour, but you know as I say I think now we have to have a look at why it’s happening ... then actually go to the root cause of it ... try and get some primary focus on addressing it.

(Pantelis: On road toll, we’ve had a terrible start to the year, what are the issues there as far as you’re concerned, what would you like to see happen apart from more people driving safely?)

... we’ve all got a responsibility on the road Matthew ... I spend most of my life out in the country. I want to throw an accolade at the police for the work that they did in the Christmas/New Year period ... last year we came in with I think the second lowest road toll since we’ve been keeping figures ... I’ve got to say that, you know, living on a farm and doing a lot of country work about an hour to an hour and a half out of Adelaide the police presence was significant in that Christmas/New Year period, even around Schoolies Week and after that ... I think that that is significant that when the police presence is out there driver behaviour changes ... we’ve tragically had not so much of a good start to the year after the Christmas/New Year period, but I think a lot of it’s about still education and reminding through programs like yours that we all have a responsibility. It’s a privilege when you’re driving a vehicle ...

we need to drive according to road safety, you know, education and laws, but I still get back to the fact that when you have a really strong police presence on the road that is the best deterrent against fatalities and injuries ...

Reductions of near-Adelaide speed limits
from 110km/h to 100km/h have drawn a
mixed reaction from the community

 one of the things that I’m concerned about at the moment, and I came back from Wellington near Tailem Bend to Mt Compass yesterday ... the Wellington to Strathalbyn road was always 110 kilometres – that’s one of those roads that’s just reduced to 100. I’ve talked to other people in the country about this reduction ... we need to remember, Matthew, that you know the road toll last year came down low at a time when there were a lot of 110 kilometre roads still around. What I saw yesterday was frustration from people ... then they start to get up the back of a car; they then get frustrated and impatient ... overtake on areas that they shouldn’t ... people are saying to me that now at 100 instead of 110 on those roads, when a truck is speed limited at 100, what do they do, sit behind the truck for three quarters of an hour or take a risk? (Pantelis: Yeah.) So I think there’s till more debate and assessment on this 100 reduction ... my argument still is an increase in traffic police and particularly to trial a three shift traffic police scenario within an hour and a half of Adelaide because at the moment we still don’t have three shifts of traffic police.

 (Pantelis: ... that’s a good point ... are you happy to take a call?) Sure. (Pantelis: Richard has rung in. G’day Richard.) (Caller Richard: ... I’m on the road a fair bit and I do a fair few k’s ... my biggest bug bear I suppose with MAC and also the Government is when are they going to start going back to teaching people the basics, like indicating and how to merge ... the number of issues where I see that people can’t merge and people don’t indicate or people just can’t drive in general is unbelievable ... that probably rates higher on my list than drunk drivers and actually speeding ... you’ve got to teach somebody the basics first ...) (Pantelis: Good point Richard.)

Controversial Motor Accident Commission Ads seem to have
had an impact on rural driving - you can access the
advertisements on the MAC website here

It is a good point, Matthew ... it’s something that we don’t see on billboards ... we’ve got some quite good MAC billboards in the country areas at the moment, but not reminding people about the basics – courtesy, indicating, you know keeping a safe distance behind a vehicle ... not seeing that sort of thing on the MAC ads either, so possibly Richard’s got a point there Matthew. (Pantelis: ... Rob, thanks for your points this morning. I think they’re valid and you know obviously you’ll be keeping the pressure up.) I certainly will Matthew. I’m looking forward to a busy year.

(Pantelis: Good on you. Rob Brokenshire, Family First Upper House MP here in South Australia.)

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