A PROMINENT South Australian parliamentarian has called for formation of a dedicated stock squad to capture cattle thieves.
Australian Conservatives MLC Robert Brokenshire said only six people had been sentenced to jail for stock theft since the introduction of Operation Poach.
“Figures I have obtained through freedom of information legislation show that in the past seven years only 14 people have been charged with stock theft, only six of those served time and two others had a conviction recorded but walked away from court, one with a fine and the other without,” Mr Brokenshire said.
“The latest figures show the financial cost of theft to the industry doubling in the past few years and yet there is little movement when it comes to catching the people who cost the livestock industry millions of dollars each year.”
He said Operation Poach had failed to address the problem.
“The latest figures which I obtained showed more than 10,000 head of stock worth $2m has been taken from across South Australia in the past two years,” he said.
“This means the cost of theft has doubled across South Australia in the past couple of years.”
The South East has not been immune to stock thefts, according to the statistics obtained by Mr Brokenshire.
A case in Mundulla in 2015 involved $12,000 worth of stock with the offender arrested, convicted and fined $6516.
“Money must be allocated to make sure all police officers are trained and we need to have a dedicated stock squad,” Mr Brokenshire said.
“When I lobbied for the reintroduction of a dedicated stock squad in 2011, the government compromised with Operation Poach, which was a win for the rural sector as there was nothing happening in this area at the time.
“Unfortunately it does not go far enough and we need to increase efforts to catch stock thieves.”
Mr Brokenshire said he welcomed the government’s recent announcement South Australia Police would launch specialised livestock training for frontline officers in regional areas, but it was simply not enough.
“We are now losing $1m worth of stock each year across a very large state and the reality is there are only 15 agricultural liaison officers, of which only eight are authorised as inspectors,” he said.
“Perpetrators are known to break locks, drive into paddocks and use dogs to round up sheep.”
The latest information shows the highest financial loss was in Murray Mallee where a flock of sheep worth $100,000 went in one day.
The largest number taken was in the York Mid North where 600 Merinos were taken.
