Ms FINOCCHIARO - 2014-02-11
Can you inform the House about recent success by police in their efforts to stamp out crime, and what advice have you received about the impact of alcohol protection orders since they were introduced?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I note the member for Drysdale asked her question with a glowing smile, because she knows crime in Palmerston is going down. Crime in Palmerston is going down like it is going down in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs. Crime is going down everywhere.
Let me give the House an update about alcohol protection orders. These are part of the processes which prohibit people from drinking, unlike Labor’s Banned Drinker Register, which prohibited them from buying alcohol at takeaway shops. Alcohol protection orders were introduced just before Christmas as a new tool for police to tackle alcohol-fuelled crime, a scourge in our society. Under these orders, someone who is charged with a serious crime while under the influence of alcohol can be banned from buying, possessing or consuming alcohol for a period of three, six or twelve months. As of this morning …
Members interjecting.
Mr GILES: They are not keen to listen, because we are fixing things, again, their mess. As of this morning, 500 people were on one of these orders; that is 500 people in less than two months. Police say it is the best tool they have ever had to tackle this kind of alcohol-fuelled offending.
The early statistics suggest these orders are already having a huge effect. In the first month of APOs operating, acts intended to cause injury fell by 15.8% compared to the previous month, which is January on December. When you compare the January results to the same month last year, for example, January 2014 to January 2013, there was a 19.8% reduction in acts intended to cause injury. Around the country, any police minister or police commissioner who achieves a 1% reduction in crime will be singing it from the rooftops. We have a 19.8% reduction in acts intended to cause injury, that is, domestic violence as a result of alcohol.
This is an impressive turnaround. It is early days, but this comes on top of our other successes. In the past 12 months in Darwin, house break-ins have almost halved and are down by 48%. Property damage has dropped by 25%. Let us look at Palmerston, where the member for Drysdale is from; house break-ins have also almost halved and are down by 47%. You tell me we are not fixing your crime mess. Commercial break-ins are down by 40%. In Alice Springs, Strike Force Vega has resulted in a four-year low for unlawful entry offences, an eight-year low for commercial break-ins and a seven-year low for property damage. The Country Liberals made an election commitment to drive down crime by 10% over our term and we are knocking that figure for six.
People are safer in the Northern Territory than they have ever been, back to the 1990s when the Country Liberals were last in government.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I note the member for Drysdale asked her question with a glowing smile, because she knows crime in Palmerston is going down. Crime in Palmerston is going down like it is going down in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs. Crime is going down everywhere.
Let me give the House an update about alcohol protection orders. These are part of the processes which prohibit people from drinking, unlike Labor’s Banned Drinker Register, which prohibited them from buying alcohol at takeaway shops. Alcohol protection orders were introduced just before Christmas as a new tool for police to tackle alcohol-fuelled crime, a scourge in our society. Under these orders, someone who is charged with a serious crime while under the influence of alcohol can be banned from buying, possessing or consuming alcohol for a period of three, six or twelve months. As of this morning …
Members interjecting.
Mr GILES: They are not keen to listen, because we are fixing things, again, their mess. As of this morning, 500 people were on one of these orders; that is 500 people in less than two months. Police say it is the best tool they have ever had to tackle this kind of alcohol-fuelled offending.
The early statistics suggest these orders are already having a huge effect. In the first month of APOs operating, acts intended to cause injury fell by 15.8% compared to the previous month, which is January on December. When you compare the January results to the same month last year, for example, January 2014 to January 2013, there was a 19.8% reduction in acts intended to cause injury. Around the country, any police minister or police commissioner who achieves a 1% reduction in crime will be singing it from the rooftops. We have a 19.8% reduction in acts intended to cause injury, that is, domestic violence as a result of alcohol.
This is an impressive turnaround. It is early days, but this comes on top of our other successes. In the past 12 months in Darwin, house break-ins have almost halved and are down by 48%. Property damage has dropped by 25%. Let us look at Palmerston, where the member for Drysdale is from; house break-ins have also almost halved and are down by 47%. You tell me we are not fixing your crime mess. Commercial break-ins are down by 40%. In Alice Springs, Strike Force Vega has resulted in a four-year low for unlawful entry offences, an eight-year low for commercial break-ins and a seven-year low for property damage. The Country Liberals made an election commitment to drive down crime by 10% over our term and we are knocking that figure for six.
People are safer in the Northern Territory than they have ever been, back to the 1990s when the Country Liberals were last in government.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016