Mr GUNNER - 2013-11-26
You promised to cut crime by 10% a year, every year, but since the Banned Drinker Register was scrapped, violent crime has risen by 11%. Your alcohol protection orders do not prevent problem drinkers from buying alcohol. The Police Association has said that unless you are controlling alcohol at the point of sale then banning people will not work. Are you seriously telling us that the advice you have from police is that you should not be controlling alcohol at the point of sale? If you are, will you table that police advice?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the future Leader of the Opposition for his question. The advice I received from police is that the alcohol protection orders will be one of the best tools they have in reducing the supply of alcohol to people who have chronic alcohol misuse and abuse issues. We make it no secret on this side of the Chamber that we want to work towards getting people off the grog so they can be rehabilitated and have an opportunity of a more sustainable life and a sense of hope.
Some of the work that has been done by the Minister for Alcohol Rehabilitation is starting to see early outcomes with people getting off the grog for three months and working to ensure when those people come out of rehab they have better opportunities for connectivity in society and being able to stay off the alcohol. In regard to the alcohol protection orders, I understand the shadow minister has had an opportunity to have a briefing on this matter. He would have heard from police that they believe it is an exceptional tool in being able to reduce the impact of alcohol on people who have a chronic alcohol abuse problem.
In relation to the question about crime statistics, property crime has gone down substantially over the period of time since we have been in government. I have just been handed a brief that talks about offences against property being down 14.11% in the Northern Territory. The Palmerston members would be happy to know there has been a 58% drop in residential property crime, which is unheard of. It is around 40% in Alice Springs and 45% in Darwin.
It is amazing to see the drop in property crime. You know the best part about the drop in property crime? There are now fewer people going to gaol because they are not committing property crime. We want to reduce the number of people in gaols. We are achieving substantial outcomes in this frame and the APOs are designed to keep people out of gaol.
Alcohol rehabilitation is designed to keep people out of gaol. More importantly, these attempts on having change in terms of alcohol misuse and abuse is about seeing a reduction in domestic violence in our community. Around 70% of all cases of domestic violence are alcohol-related. Under Labor, under the former government, only about 25% of people who committed domestic violence offences were being prosecuted.
I have issued, with the government, a directive that we want everyone pursued on domestic violence, so you will continue to see the numbers increase for domestic violence or offences against the person because we are actually charging people and sending a message that domestic violence will not be tolerated.
We all stand here with white ribbons on today, so do you, to fight the scourge of domestic violence in our society. You are talking about the assault statistics. Look at what they are all about. This is about us pursuing the perpetrators of alcohol –related domestic violence so we can start protecting women in a much better frame. I do not stand back from taking any action on this. If the domestic violence assault numbers keep going up, all the better because we are charging people for committing the offence and sending a clear message that we will not tolerate it.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the future Leader of the Opposition for his question. The advice I received from police is that the alcohol protection orders will be one of the best tools they have in reducing the supply of alcohol to people who have chronic alcohol misuse and abuse issues. We make it no secret on this side of the Chamber that we want to work towards getting people off the grog so they can be rehabilitated and have an opportunity of a more sustainable life and a sense of hope.
Some of the work that has been done by the Minister for Alcohol Rehabilitation is starting to see early outcomes with people getting off the grog for three months and working to ensure when those people come out of rehab they have better opportunities for connectivity in society and being able to stay off the alcohol. In regard to the alcohol protection orders, I understand the shadow minister has had an opportunity to have a briefing on this matter. He would have heard from police that they believe it is an exceptional tool in being able to reduce the impact of alcohol on people who have a chronic alcohol abuse problem.
In relation to the question about crime statistics, property crime has gone down substantially over the period of time since we have been in government. I have just been handed a brief that talks about offences against property being down 14.11% in the Northern Territory. The Palmerston members would be happy to know there has been a 58% drop in residential property crime, which is unheard of. It is around 40% in Alice Springs and 45% in Darwin.
It is amazing to see the drop in property crime. You know the best part about the drop in property crime? There are now fewer people going to gaol because they are not committing property crime. We want to reduce the number of people in gaols. We are achieving substantial outcomes in this frame and the APOs are designed to keep people out of gaol.
Alcohol rehabilitation is designed to keep people out of gaol. More importantly, these attempts on having change in terms of alcohol misuse and abuse is about seeing a reduction in domestic violence in our community. Around 70% of all cases of domestic violence are alcohol-related. Under Labor, under the former government, only about 25% of people who committed domestic violence offences were being prosecuted.
I have issued, with the government, a directive that we want everyone pursued on domestic violence, so you will continue to see the numbers increase for domestic violence or offences against the person because we are actually charging people and sending a message that domestic violence will not be tolerated.
We all stand here with white ribbons on today, so do you, to fight the scourge of domestic violence in our society. You are talking about the assault statistics. Look at what they are all about. This is about us pursuing the perpetrators of alcohol –related domestic violence so we can start protecting women in a much better frame. I do not stand back from taking any action on this. If the domestic violence assault numbers keep going up, all the better because we are charging people for committing the offence and sending a clear message that we will not tolerate it.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016