Ms MARTIN - 1999-10-13
Last week and this week media reports were filled with the problems caused by youth crime in the Northern Territory and in the northern suburbs. Labor agrees that the parents of these young people have a responsibility here, but so does this government. It must implement policies that prevent youth crime.
Will the Chief Minister confirm that: the cost of correctional services has blown out by 70%, or $20m, in the last 5 years, which means there is less money available for programs to prevent crime; homeless youth are turned away from government and community accommodation every day because of a lack of space; the government has no youth housing policy; there is no crisis accommodation for youth in Palmerston; there is no dedicated youth counselling service in the Territory; there are no dedicated truancy officers in the Territory; the government cannot find enough people to care for children who are wards of state; there are very few training or skilling programs offered to youth in care; and youth in care aged 16 years and 9 months are being booted onto the street with no accommodation and no skills. The list goes on. Will the Chief Minister concede that despite all his rhetoric he has failed to do the basics for tackling youth crime?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the only rhetoric was the amount of time that it took to run off that litany of gross distortions and misrepresentations which I will gladly answer in detail in writing at the appropriate time. I will answer completely and factually to each of those statements the Leader of the Opposition made.
She is clearly referring to recent newspaper reports of gangs at night harassing people around Casuarina Shopping Square and other places. It is a fairly typical reaction of the Labor Party. They find out what their policies are for the next couple of days of sittings based on what they read in the NT News the couple of days before. We are used to that.
The question was asked of me as Chief Minister, as head of government. I am very concerned about those sorts of incidents. The police to my mind do an excellent job of dealing with youth crime and law-and-order issues in general in the Northern Territory. As to what policies the government could put in place to deal with gangs of youths, some of whom are between 9 and 12 years of age and who are most active between the hours of, say, midnight until 2 or 3 am, I am at a loss to know what programs, what facility, what skate park I could open that would operate at 2 am to keep those youths occupied.
This is an issue of parental responsibility. The question I ask as Chief Minister is, what parent in the Northern Territory has no concern for a child of 10 or 12 and would let them roam the streets between midnight and 2 or 3 am? And it worries me.
If you work from that question and, as a responsible Chief Minister, then ask yourself, ‘What can I as Chief Minister or what can we as a government do that is practical and workable to address that issue’, and it’s very hard to come up with a program. Unless you suggest we lock these kids up or you suggest we impose some sort of curfew, it is very difficult to come up with a responsible program.
Small-minded, weak, shallow politicians can run out there and suggest all sorts of things to the general public. That would be very mischievous. The central issue is called parental responsibility. What concerns me is the limitations on police powers to be able to deal with children who are less than 14 years of age, roaming the streets, getting up to trouble, associating themselves in packs on occasions and generally causing harm.
How do you address it? Well, the first thing I want to do is to look at the police administration orders and see where their powers are really limited. I am led to believe that the police can only take a child home if they believe that child is about to commit a crime. Now, I believe the police powers in that regard need to be extended and improved and strengthened.
I believe that the police should have the ability if they see a child out at night to ask a simple question - why is he out at night at that age? - and take the child home, present the child to the parents and say: ‘Here is your child’. They don’t have that power, I understand, at the moment. In that regard I intend to investigate whether there are avenues where we can move on this issue.
The next step is doubly hard. How do you get these irresponsible parents to take it upon themselves to keep those kids at home and give them some sort of parental guidance and keep them off the street?
Will the Chief Minister confirm that: the cost of correctional services has blown out by 70%, or $20m, in the last 5 years, which means there is less money available for programs to prevent crime; homeless youth are turned away from government and community accommodation every day because of a lack of space; the government has no youth housing policy; there is no crisis accommodation for youth in Palmerston; there is no dedicated youth counselling service in the Territory; there are no dedicated truancy officers in the Territory; the government cannot find enough people to care for children who are wards of state; there are very few training or skilling programs offered to youth in care; and youth in care aged 16 years and 9 months are being booted onto the street with no accommodation and no skills. The list goes on. Will the Chief Minister concede that despite all his rhetoric he has failed to do the basics for tackling youth crime?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the only rhetoric was the amount of time that it took to run off that litany of gross distortions and misrepresentations which I will gladly answer in detail in writing at the appropriate time. I will answer completely and factually to each of those statements the Leader of the Opposition made.
She is clearly referring to recent newspaper reports of gangs at night harassing people around Casuarina Shopping Square and other places. It is a fairly typical reaction of the Labor Party. They find out what their policies are for the next couple of days of sittings based on what they read in the NT News the couple of days before. We are used to that.
The question was asked of me as Chief Minister, as head of government. I am very concerned about those sorts of incidents. The police to my mind do an excellent job of dealing with youth crime and law-and-order issues in general in the Northern Territory. As to what policies the government could put in place to deal with gangs of youths, some of whom are between 9 and 12 years of age and who are most active between the hours of, say, midnight until 2 or 3 am, I am at a loss to know what programs, what facility, what skate park I could open that would operate at 2 am to keep those youths occupied.
This is an issue of parental responsibility. The question I ask as Chief Minister is, what parent in the Northern Territory has no concern for a child of 10 or 12 and would let them roam the streets between midnight and 2 or 3 am? And it worries me.
If you work from that question and, as a responsible Chief Minister, then ask yourself, ‘What can I as Chief Minister or what can we as a government do that is practical and workable to address that issue’, and it’s very hard to come up with a program. Unless you suggest we lock these kids up or you suggest we impose some sort of curfew, it is very difficult to come up with a responsible program.
Small-minded, weak, shallow politicians can run out there and suggest all sorts of things to the general public. That would be very mischievous. The central issue is called parental responsibility. What concerns me is the limitations on police powers to be able to deal with children who are less than 14 years of age, roaming the streets, getting up to trouble, associating themselves in packs on occasions and generally causing harm.
How do you address it? Well, the first thing I want to do is to look at the police administration orders and see where their powers are really limited. I am led to believe that the police can only take a child home if they believe that child is about to commit a crime. Now, I believe the police powers in that regard need to be extended and improved and strengthened.
I believe that the police should have the ability if they see a child out at night to ask a simple question - why is he out at night at that age? - and take the child home, present the child to the parents and say: ‘Here is your child’. They don’t have that power, I understand, at the moment. In that regard I intend to investigate whether there are avenues where we can move on this issue.
The next step is doubly hard. How do you get these irresponsible parents to take it upon themselves to keep those kids at home and give them some sort of parental guidance and keep them off the street?
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016