Plans to charge events for SA Police attendance thrown into disarray after expected hourly fee blows out to $159 per officer
A plan to charge community events for police attendance has been sent back to the drawing board after the forecast cost per officer blew out to nearly seven times original expectations.
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Police have been sent back to the drawing board on plans to charge event organisers for their attendance, after government expectations of a nominal $23 hourly fee per officer blew out to $159.
Police had begun to negotiate with community groups about the scheme, but a State Government source said the cost structure was not acceptable because it was “far too high”.
“Police have been asked to do more modelling on how this could be put in place, because it was an initiative from Treasury, but to be decided on by the minister,’’ the government source said.
“The costs were far too high, far higher than we were briefed they would be and police then revealed their plans to events in the middle of COVID-19 restrictions which had devastated the industry.
“It was never the minister’s intention to target the many community events which are providing a public service. The point was to help police attend events in which patrons cannot be protected properly by organisers and chew up police resources.
“The cost from the original proposal will be reduced significantly.’’
Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of SA chief executive John Rothwell said the Royal Show should not be included in any fee for service and was in talks with the State Government to stop the move.
“We are aware that the South Australian Government was looking to apply a ‘Police Tax’ to cost-recover the services of SAPOL at the show,’’ Mr Rothwell said.
“We have always been of the view that any proposed Police Tax should not apply to the Show as it is a much-loved community not-for-profit event staged by a charitable organisation.
“The Royal Adelaide Show has for 181 years encouraged SAPOL’s involvement, particularly with community engagement, awards ceremonies and band performances.
“Additionally, the Royal Show independently engage and fund a significant presence of security at the event.”
Fringe director Heather Croall said she and Fringe venues Gluttony, The Garden of Unearthly Delights and Royal Croquet Club had been part of a meeting with police and Major Events SA, where the cost had been outlined.
“Our feedback was that it was going to be almost impossible to make those hourly rates, and we are waiting for the new figure,’’ she said.
When Police Minister Corey Wingard was asked for comment, a government spokesperson said: “The policy is still being worked through and is going through the budget process.”
A SA Police document titled “Stakeholder consultation; proposed user pays scheme” has been released to Opposition police spokesman Lee Odenwalder under the state’s FOI laws.
It shows police in March had revealed to event organisers the high costs they were facing, just as COVID-19 lockdown was also crippling planning for major gatherings.
In the document, police state they are involved in the organisation of 259 of the state’s 540 events and 78 per cent of these occur during peak times for other police work between Thursday night and Sunday.
The events involved 44,000 hours of police work every year.
When asked if the final fee structure had been calculated by SAPOL yet and if so what it will be, a police spokeswoman confirmed the proposal had gone to Cabinet but because of this it was being treated as “Cabinet in Confidence” and therefore she could not comment.
Mr Odenwalder said it was clear a cost of $159 per officer per hour would have a devastating effect on many events.
“With the crippling impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, now is the worst possible time to be increasing the cost of holding events,’’ he said.
“Steven Marshall must reverse this decision and dump his police rent tax.”
After members raised the issue, Business SA wrote to Premier Steven Marshall calling on the charge to be scrapped as part of the state’s COVID-19 recovery plan.
“The issue was raised at our virtual summit (to address post-COVID-19 issues) with industry by Thoroughbred Racing SA … we subsequently included a recommendation in our final Virtual Summit report which was tabled to the Premier,’’ a spokeswoman said.
The State Government source told The Advertiser the policy, which was designed to make high-risk and labour-intensive gatherings such as rave parties and outdoor music concerts pay their way, had also cast too broad a net and even included the Royal Adelaide Show and Fringe.
This had raised the ire of country Liberal MPs, who had been told the Show would be exempt.
Also, the police quote of around $159 was for senior retired police to return to work to carry out the duties, rather than using less costly and more junior serving officers.