Mr HENDERSON - 2000-10-18
Last week, the opposition provided statistics to this House that proved conclusively the link between drug use and property crime sourced from the recent report from the Australian Institute of Criminology. This report proved that 43% of all property crimes that are committed under the influence of opiates; 86% of males detained for a property offence tested positive to an illicit drug, half of those opiates.
You refused to provide drug-related crime statistics and now we know why. The same report shows a decrease of arrest of drug dealers from 193 in 1994 to just 85 in 1997-98, a drop of 56%.
Minister, when will you take your head out of the sand and acknowledge the fact that we are losing the war against drug-related property crime and resource the police to tackle the problem?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I have just demonstrated that you cannot trust the Labor Party in terms of what they quote and the propositions that they put forward in this House.
The opposition so artfully – as did the Leader of the Opposition with her Access Economics assertion that there was a recession in the Territory economy…
Mr Stirling: Technical recession.
Mr REED: You are already qualifying it. The Deputy Leader is already stepping back to protect the Leader of the Opposition from the folly…
Mr STIRLING: Point of order, Mr Speaker! He is deliberately misrepresenting the opposition claims. We have always maintained that Access Economics themselves said it was a technical recession. We back away from nothing.
Mr REED: I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for confirming my point. They cannot be trusted in relation to the way that they present a particular story. The Leader of the Opposition conspired with her staff to go on radio and give a wrong name. I mean, what better demonstration if their boss says to her staff ‘Go on radio and use a wrong name’. They cannot be believed. They are deceitful.
In terms of this particular issue, I have explained many times the level of additional support, both financially and in other resource terms in addition to police numbers, we have provided to police.
Only yesterday in this House, in terms of illegal drug use, I introduced legislation on behalf of the Attorney-General to further strengthen Territory laws to ensure that drug traffickers have the ability to be brought before the courts and to be considered in a context that, pleading as many of them have, they have the drugs for their own personal use and not for trafficking, will in future be required to be shown as a reverse onus of proof. They are the sorts of things that virtually on a weekly basis this government does to continually strengthen both the laws that Territory Police are able to apply, the laws that alleged offenders have to answer to in the courts, the resources that we provide police.
The suggestion and misinterpretation of the statistics as used by the member for Wanguri – he is now accredited in the school of deceit as run by the Leader of the Opposition in her office, so I expect he will be telling his staff to use a wrong name in the near future as well – are clearly incorrect, and do not represent the facts as they are. I stand by the actions and the hard work of the Northern Territory Police Force in terms of the work that they are doing and the good results they are achieving in terms of combating illegal drug use and availability in the community and the benefits to all Territorians.
You refused to provide drug-related crime statistics and now we know why. The same report shows a decrease of arrest of drug dealers from 193 in 1994 to just 85 in 1997-98, a drop of 56%.
Minister, when will you take your head out of the sand and acknowledge the fact that we are losing the war against drug-related property crime and resource the police to tackle the problem?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I have just demonstrated that you cannot trust the Labor Party in terms of what they quote and the propositions that they put forward in this House.
The opposition so artfully – as did the Leader of the Opposition with her Access Economics assertion that there was a recession in the Territory economy…
Mr Stirling: Technical recession.
Mr REED: You are already qualifying it. The Deputy Leader is already stepping back to protect the Leader of the Opposition from the folly…
Mr STIRLING: Point of order, Mr Speaker! He is deliberately misrepresenting the opposition claims. We have always maintained that Access Economics themselves said it was a technical recession. We back away from nothing.
Mr REED: I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for confirming my point. They cannot be trusted in relation to the way that they present a particular story. The Leader of the Opposition conspired with her staff to go on radio and give a wrong name. I mean, what better demonstration if their boss says to her staff ‘Go on radio and use a wrong name’. They cannot be believed. They are deceitful.
In terms of this particular issue, I have explained many times the level of additional support, both financially and in other resource terms in addition to police numbers, we have provided to police.
Only yesterday in this House, in terms of illegal drug use, I introduced legislation on behalf of the Attorney-General to further strengthen Territory laws to ensure that drug traffickers have the ability to be brought before the courts and to be considered in a context that, pleading as many of them have, they have the drugs for their own personal use and not for trafficking, will in future be required to be shown as a reverse onus of proof. They are the sorts of things that virtually on a weekly basis this government does to continually strengthen both the laws that Territory Police are able to apply, the laws that alleged offenders have to answer to in the courts, the resources that we provide police.
The suggestion and misinterpretation of the statistics as used by the member for Wanguri – he is now accredited in the school of deceit as run by the Leader of the Opposition in her office, so I expect he will be telling his staff to use a wrong name in the near future as well – are clearly incorrect, and do not represent the facts as they are. I stand by the actions and the hard work of the Northern Territory Police Force in terms of the work that they are doing and the good results they are achieving in terms of combating illegal drug use and availability in the community and the benefits to all Territorians.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016