Mr TOYNE - 1997-06-17
Is the minister concerned that, in Alice Springs, 2 gangs of teenage girls, most of whom are of school age, are able to be out on the streets during school hours robbing houses? Why do his education and truancy policies have so little effect that these teenagers are refusing to go to school and nothing is being done about it? Will he launch an inquiry into the level of, and reasons for, truancy in Alice Springs and the level of crime that can be traced to truant students?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am not sure whom the honourable member is seeking to blame here. Does he want to blame the education system and its enormous range of programs, its range of officers paid for by the taxpayer ...
Mr Toyne: The schools should be doing something about it.
Mr FINCH: I have heard your question. You had a go at this during the great launch of your education policy. It was dragged out of the Internet. You are still embarrassed about your little Canadian and his raincoat as your idea of how schools should be run in the Northern
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Territory. We gave it to you then, and we will give it to you again now. There are a number of officers paid purely to liaise with Aboriginal families and the community in general ...
Mr Toyne: It is not working.
Mr FINCH: Why would the member want to lay blame on the extensive resources that are already there? Why does he refuse to place some of the responsibility back on those parents who are enabling, and in some cases probably encouraging, their children to get into mischief? We have to get right back to where responsibility belongs in this society. The member talks about kids hanging around the streets when they should be at school. I gave him the figures last time. The largest number of break-ins by juveniles occur out of school hours.
How does the member account for all those young people who have simply never turned up in the school system? Many come from out of town and are brought into town by their parents. How would they be monitored in the school system if they never go there? They have appeared from the bush. How does he account for those who are making mischief when they have been suspended from school for their actions or misdemeanours? How can they be handled? We do have highly-paid Aboriginal education liaison people who are going around the streets and identifying, where they can, kids and their families and providing encouragement for those kids to attend school. There are laws in place.
What the opposition has settled on is that, by dragging these kids or their parents through the courts, they will somehow find the answer. The only thing the opposition has offered in its policy, other than what the CLP government has in place already, is to bash these kids and their parents over the head and drag them through the courts. Frankly, we have been down that track. We have tried that sort of approach. It simply does not work. Members opposite have had plenty of opportunity to support the government's juvenile crime legislation that we have put in place, but they have skulked away from it.
Mr Toyne: It is a bit immature.
Mr FINCH: I will tell you what is immature. What is immature is the member's ignoring of Aboriginal culture and responsibility. Which member of the community will he drag through the courts to be fined or put in jail, and for what purpose? I can tell him that the courts will laugh at him because that is what has happened on previous occasions when we have collected the evidence to make a charge. The courts have simply thrown it out. How will the member for Stuart find in Aboriginal communities the persons who carry cultural responsibilities for the children's attendance at school? He says that he can. It is nowhere near his simplistic, computer-driven, Internet-based concepts. If he comes back to the real world, he will agree that the programs we have in place and the people that we have on the street, paid for by the taxpayer, are doing the best they can with these children. Other offenders will be picked up by the police for their misdemeanours and they will be put in detention. This government will not be treading lightly with these people. If they are caught, they will do the time for it.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am not sure whom the honourable member is seeking to blame here. Does he want to blame the education system and its enormous range of programs, its range of officers paid for by the taxpayer ...
Mr Toyne: The schools should be doing something about it.
Mr FINCH: I have heard your question. You had a go at this during the great launch of your education policy. It was dragged out of the Internet. You are still embarrassed about your little Canadian and his raincoat as your idea of how schools should be run in the Northern
Page 2154
Territory. We gave it to you then, and we will give it to you again now. There are a number of officers paid purely to liaise with Aboriginal families and the community in general ...
Mr Toyne: It is not working.
Mr FINCH: Why would the member want to lay blame on the extensive resources that are already there? Why does he refuse to place some of the responsibility back on those parents who are enabling, and in some cases probably encouraging, their children to get into mischief? We have to get right back to where responsibility belongs in this society. The member talks about kids hanging around the streets when they should be at school. I gave him the figures last time. The largest number of break-ins by juveniles occur out of school hours.
How does the member account for all those young people who have simply never turned up in the school system? Many come from out of town and are brought into town by their parents. How would they be monitored in the school system if they never go there? They have appeared from the bush. How does he account for those who are making mischief when they have been suspended from school for their actions or misdemeanours? How can they be handled? We do have highly-paid Aboriginal education liaison people who are going around the streets and identifying, where they can, kids and their families and providing encouragement for those kids to attend school. There are laws in place.
What the opposition has settled on is that, by dragging these kids or their parents through the courts, they will somehow find the answer. The only thing the opposition has offered in its policy, other than what the CLP government has in place already, is to bash these kids and their parents over the head and drag them through the courts. Frankly, we have been down that track. We have tried that sort of approach. It simply does not work. Members opposite have had plenty of opportunity to support the government's juvenile crime legislation that we have put in place, but they have skulked away from it.
Mr Toyne: It is a bit immature.
Mr FINCH: I will tell you what is immature. What is immature is the member's ignoring of Aboriginal culture and responsibility. Which member of the community will he drag through the courts to be fined or put in jail, and for what purpose? I can tell him that the courts will laugh at him because that is what has happened on previous occasions when we have collected the evidence to make a charge. The courts have simply thrown it out. How will the member for Stuart find in Aboriginal communities the persons who carry cultural responsibilities for the children's attendance at school? He says that he can. It is nowhere near his simplistic, computer-driven, Internet-based concepts. If he comes back to the real world, he will agree that the programs we have in place and the people that we have on the street, paid for by the taxpayer, are doing the best they can with these children. Other offenders will be picked up by the police for their misdemeanours and they will be put in detention. This government will not be treading lightly with these people. If they are caught, they will do the time for it.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016