Mr STIRLING - 2000-10-19
On Sunday, a number of businesses in Winnellie were severely damaged by vandals at a time when small business operators are struggling due to CLP mismanagement of the Territory economy. Businessman, Mike Meech, stated in today’s NT News:
I have spoken to senior police officers about what happened here on Sunday morning. But I’m not at all reassured by what they told me. As the law stands now, and with the numbers of police available, I don’t believe they can do anything about this problem.
And further: ‘Who are citizens to rely on for protection? Certainly not the police’. He said police should have been monitoring the situation instead of passing through like a Bondi tram.
Your CLP government has done nothing to counter the ongoing incidence of vandalism and anti-social behaviour. Can the minister please explain to Territorians why small business men and women are now being forced to consider hiring private security guards and why their police force has not provided the resources to protect them?
ANSWER
Police in fact have been to Winnellie to talk to the people unfortunately affected in the way to which the honourable member refers. There are indeed regular patrols of the industrial area from the Darwin Central Police Station. Police cannot, however, be everywhere at a particular time, particularly if there are other matters to which they have to attend and that is just an unfortunate facet of policing.
It doesn’t matter how many police you have if, on a particular occasion, there are a number of demands, then some priorities have to be set. Not that that was particularly the case in this regard as I understand it. Police do, and I refute any suggestion that they don’t, patrol that area, but when you have vandals who are mischievous enough to inflict the sort of damage that they have on this particular occasion, and to be doing so in the wee small hours of the morning, police necessarily cannot be expected to be everywhere.
Now, I hope that if anyone has any information in regard to these matters that they will bring it forward and that someone will be responsible enough to provide some information to police that may assist them in apprehending those who perpetrated these particular crimes. It is a huge impost on industry and business, and the suggestions by the honourable member that police are not doing their job are erroneous. As is the suggestion that the government is not providing additional resources to police when police numbers have been increased substantially. A few years ago police numbers were in mid 700s; they are now edging towards well, in fact, they are very near the mid 900s.
The Northern Territory ratio of police to the population is the highest level of policing in the country and that is attributable to the commitment by this government to achieve those levels. So it is ridiculous for the honourable member to assert that nothing has been done and that additional members have not been provided for the Northern Territory police, and that additional equipment to make them more efficient has not been provided also. His assertions are baseless just as we come to expect, unfortunately, from the honourable member. In terms of his assertions that no additional resources - your question was why hasn’t the government provided additional resources and my answer is that we have, it is just that you have not noticed.
Just as yesterday, with a great deal of indignation, the honourable member confronted me and asked me what I was doing about letting out some information about some legislation that he said had yet to be introduced, and he said, ‘This hasn’t been introduced. What are you talking about here’, when in fact I had on behalf of the Attorney-General read the second reading speech of the legislation the day before. I had to point out to the honourable member, not only did I read it but the member for Nhulunbuy, one Syd Stirling, got up and adjourned the debate that I had just presented. That is how much attention he pays to his job. He pays so much attention to his job that he does not even know what he is adjourning in terms of debate or new important legislation that is put in place.
In this particular case, to assist police in ensuring that they have adequate legislation to protect Territorians, and he had the hide to confront me yesterday and say that I was making some allegations in the media that were not correct, or using them to the government’s advantage when, in fact, he sat in this House, heard the second reading speech, not only that, he adjourned it himself and still does not know what is happening before him in this House. Now, he has to be more responsible in terms of the way he applies himself to the job, and the same applies to the other seven members opposite. If they are not more responsible, if they are not less deceitful in terms of what they tell Territorians, they are never going to progress from the pits that they are currently sitting in.
I have spoken to senior police officers about what happened here on Sunday morning. But I’m not at all reassured by what they told me. As the law stands now, and with the numbers of police available, I don’t believe they can do anything about this problem.
And further: ‘Who are citizens to rely on for protection? Certainly not the police’. He said police should have been monitoring the situation instead of passing through like a Bondi tram.
Your CLP government has done nothing to counter the ongoing incidence of vandalism and anti-social behaviour. Can the minister please explain to Territorians why small business men and women are now being forced to consider hiring private security guards and why their police force has not provided the resources to protect them?
ANSWER
Police in fact have been to Winnellie to talk to the people unfortunately affected in the way to which the honourable member refers. There are indeed regular patrols of the industrial area from the Darwin Central Police Station. Police cannot, however, be everywhere at a particular time, particularly if there are other matters to which they have to attend and that is just an unfortunate facet of policing.
It doesn’t matter how many police you have if, on a particular occasion, there are a number of demands, then some priorities have to be set. Not that that was particularly the case in this regard as I understand it. Police do, and I refute any suggestion that they don’t, patrol that area, but when you have vandals who are mischievous enough to inflict the sort of damage that they have on this particular occasion, and to be doing so in the wee small hours of the morning, police necessarily cannot be expected to be everywhere.
Now, I hope that if anyone has any information in regard to these matters that they will bring it forward and that someone will be responsible enough to provide some information to police that may assist them in apprehending those who perpetrated these particular crimes. It is a huge impost on industry and business, and the suggestions by the honourable member that police are not doing their job are erroneous. As is the suggestion that the government is not providing additional resources to police when police numbers have been increased substantially. A few years ago police numbers were in mid 700s; they are now edging towards well, in fact, they are very near the mid 900s.
The Northern Territory ratio of police to the population is the highest level of policing in the country and that is attributable to the commitment by this government to achieve those levels. So it is ridiculous for the honourable member to assert that nothing has been done and that additional members have not been provided for the Northern Territory police, and that additional equipment to make them more efficient has not been provided also. His assertions are baseless just as we come to expect, unfortunately, from the honourable member. In terms of his assertions that no additional resources - your question was why hasn’t the government provided additional resources and my answer is that we have, it is just that you have not noticed.
Just as yesterday, with a great deal of indignation, the honourable member confronted me and asked me what I was doing about letting out some information about some legislation that he said had yet to be introduced, and he said, ‘This hasn’t been introduced. What are you talking about here’, when in fact I had on behalf of the Attorney-General read the second reading speech of the legislation the day before. I had to point out to the honourable member, not only did I read it but the member for Nhulunbuy, one Syd Stirling, got up and adjourned the debate that I had just presented. That is how much attention he pays to his job. He pays so much attention to his job that he does not even know what he is adjourning in terms of debate or new important legislation that is put in place.
In this particular case, to assist police in ensuring that they have adequate legislation to protect Territorians, and he had the hide to confront me yesterday and say that I was making some allegations in the media that were not correct, or using them to the government’s advantage when, in fact, he sat in this House, heard the second reading speech, not only that, he adjourned it himself and still does not know what is happening before him in this House. Now, he has to be more responsible in terms of the way he applies himself to the job, and the same applies to the other seven members opposite. If they are not more responsible, if they are not less deceitful in terms of what they tell Territorians, they are never going to progress from the pits that they are currently sitting in.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016