Mr GUNNER - 2013-11-28
The latest crime statistics show the failure of your alcohol polices, with alcohol-related crime up by more than 11% across the Territory. In Darwin, alcohol-related assaults are up by 12.3%, while in Tennant Creek the picture is grim, with alcohol-related crime up by 43.7%. Under the CLP, we have less graffiti but more assaults and more domestic violence. It is just not good enough. Your answer is to bring in alcohol protection orders which the experts are telling you will not work. When the Police Association says police laws will not work, you have a problem. When NAAJA tells you the laws should be scrapped, there is clearly a problem. When AMSANT says the laws should be dropped, there is clearly a problem.
Will you listen to organisations like the police, NAAJA and AMSANT that are telling you that alcohol protection orders will do nothing to tackle the ever-escalating rate of alcohol crime which exists under your government?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I will answer part of that, then I might flick over the Attorney-General. We will wait and see.
All the organisations you have just identified were against mandatory alcohol rehabilitation, which is now having a positive effect in our community by helping people. I hear concerns and listen to what is happening, but we are seeing those people silenced, to a degree, because the program is achieving real results.
You talk about statistics of serious incidents and harms against the person which relate to alcohol. Of the cases in relation to domestic violence when you were in government – you took your eye off the ball and did dodgy deals –around 25% of cases involving domestic violence and breaches were pursued, and people were being charged and going through the court process. Around 75% of cases were not actively pursued.
As a result of good policing, fantastic efforts by the police, we are seeing a reduction in property crime. With the start-up of operations such as Trident and the support link referral service in Alice Springs, we now have a targeted focus on that 75% of people who were not targeted before. Therefore, the numbers will keep going up while we keep targeting the perpetrators of domestic violence. While we operate a mandatory alcohol rehabilitation process and have greater focus on domestic violence and the perpetrators, those numbers will go up. The alcohol protection orders are a tool to drive change in that area.
I will reflect on some of the comments you, as a shadow minister, and some of your colleagues have been making in the media. You are talking about whether someone will be able to go to TIO Stadium or to the local bread shop.
Mr Tollner: Fannie Bay Super Pizza.
Mr GILES: Or Fannie Bay Super Pizza. Clause 23(4) of the bill makes allowance for people to go to those venues if they are doing the right thing and not consuming alcohol. There is a clause which allows that. Look through the bill.
The real concern we have is that every time your raise whether someone can go to TIO Stadium, Fannie Bay Super Pizza or wherever it is, you are defending the perpetrator, someone who has been charged with a crime. There are people who have breached domestic violence order breaches and who have, in many cases, assaulted their wives, and you are saying it is not fair they cannot go to a liquor shop. That is just defending the people who are committing crime and assaulting people in the Northern Territory. You talk about assault numbers but you are not prepared to stand up for those people who are being assaulted or to have consequences for the people committing those crimes. If you want to go to Fannie Bay Super Pizza, do not commit a crime that carries a sentence of six months or more. It is the law.
Will you listen to organisations like the police, NAAJA and AMSANT that are telling you that alcohol protection orders will do nothing to tackle the ever-escalating rate of alcohol crime which exists under your government?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I will answer part of that, then I might flick over the Attorney-General. We will wait and see.
All the organisations you have just identified were against mandatory alcohol rehabilitation, which is now having a positive effect in our community by helping people. I hear concerns and listen to what is happening, but we are seeing those people silenced, to a degree, because the program is achieving real results.
You talk about statistics of serious incidents and harms against the person which relate to alcohol. Of the cases in relation to domestic violence when you were in government – you took your eye off the ball and did dodgy deals –around 25% of cases involving domestic violence and breaches were pursued, and people were being charged and going through the court process. Around 75% of cases were not actively pursued.
As a result of good policing, fantastic efforts by the police, we are seeing a reduction in property crime. With the start-up of operations such as Trident and the support link referral service in Alice Springs, we now have a targeted focus on that 75% of people who were not targeted before. Therefore, the numbers will keep going up while we keep targeting the perpetrators of domestic violence. While we operate a mandatory alcohol rehabilitation process and have greater focus on domestic violence and the perpetrators, those numbers will go up. The alcohol protection orders are a tool to drive change in that area.
I will reflect on some of the comments you, as a shadow minister, and some of your colleagues have been making in the media. You are talking about whether someone will be able to go to TIO Stadium or to the local bread shop.
Mr Tollner: Fannie Bay Super Pizza.
Mr GILES: Or Fannie Bay Super Pizza. Clause 23(4) of the bill makes allowance for people to go to those venues if they are doing the right thing and not consuming alcohol. There is a clause which allows that. Look through the bill.
The real concern we have is that every time your raise whether someone can go to TIO Stadium, Fannie Bay Super Pizza or wherever it is, you are defending the perpetrator, someone who has been charged with a crime. There are people who have breached domestic violence order breaches and who have, in many cases, assaulted their wives, and you are saying it is not fair they cannot go to a liquor shop. That is just defending the people who are committing crime and assaulting people in the Northern Territory. You talk about assault numbers but you are not prepared to stand up for those people who are being assaulted or to have consequences for the people committing those crimes. If you want to go to Fannie Bay Super Pizza, do not commit a crime that carries a sentence of six months or more. It is the law.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016