Dr BURNS - 2001-11-27
After 26 years in office, the previous government did not have a comprehensive or effective strategy on crime prevention. Can the minister advise the House what action has been taken in this vital area?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I very much thank the member for that question because, indeed, it is a very important area of our government programs. In fact, it is one of the four cornerstones of what we want to achieve in government over the next four years.
It is very interesting to see the CLP members currently drawing together forums, and really talking up the levels of crime and the problems that they are having. Three months ago, we were told in debates in this House how good the programs were that they were running, how effective they all were, the wonderful police out there and, ‘Everything is under control, don’t worry, trust us’. Now we have them going around, inflaming situations.
Let us have a look at what we are actually doing about this. We have an excellent new Police Commissioner coming in, Paul White, who has a very good background in the real ways of going about reducing crime rates, particularly in his work against drug dealing and motor cycle gangs in South Australia. I think we may now look forward to seeing some really strong concerted action aimed at some of the areas of criminal activity that fuels 40% of the property crime in the Northern Territory. We have to get into that focal point if we are going to make inroads on house break-ins and property crimes, the very areas that are feeding into the drug activities in the Northern Territory.
Mr Burke: Minuscule!
Dr TOYNE: This was the problem that you said did not exist. The member for Brennan over here says: ‘Minuscule’. Well, it is not minuscule – there are 400 000 needles-plus in the needle exchanges. It is out there, it is affecting property crime throughout the Northern Territory urban areas. We are going to deal with it, and we have the Police Commissioner who can deal with it for us.
In terms of the overall crime prevention, we announced, very strongly through the election campaign, that we were going to apply a whole-of-government approach to crime prevention. That will be done through the Office of Crime Prevention under my portfolio, and I am very privileged to be the minister with carriage of that initiative on behalf of our government. That will, for the first time, provide a comprehensive approach, through all government departments, to the antecedents of crime and to the prevention of crime and to the dealing with offensive offending.
Mr Dunham: So, how come it’s going up? Hendo reckons it’s going up.
Dr TOYNE: Well, if it is going up, it is because of 26 years of your crime prevention policies, or lack of them.
Moving to other areas that are going to be highlighted in our crime prevention activities on crime, we are going to look after victims. We are not just going to come in here with the rhetoric. We are going to put out real resources to VOCAL and to the Victim Support Unit, to allow victims to repair their situation after they have had their houses broken into and trashed. We are putting $30 000 in there for the rest of this year, $50 000 every year, to provide for locks to be replaced after break-ins, windows to be repaired and, generally, for the houses of victims to be restored back to a liveable standard. That is how we are going to help victims. Very practical, very immediate, when they need the help. Not coming into the House spouting facile comments about how much you care about them, then do absolutely nothing in terms of public policy.
We are also going to introduce, early next year, a package of legislation and policies aimed at drug manufacturers and distributors. You were not even prepared to talk about that. We are going to legislate. We are going to target drug manufacturing and distribution. We are going to require offenders to undergo drug rehabilitation and treatment programs. We are going to educate our youth on the impact of illicit drugs, and we are going to prevent the ongoing abuse of prescription drugs such as morphine. We are out there doing something, after 26 years of inaction on the other side of the House.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I very much thank the member for that question because, indeed, it is a very important area of our government programs. In fact, it is one of the four cornerstones of what we want to achieve in government over the next four years.
It is very interesting to see the CLP members currently drawing together forums, and really talking up the levels of crime and the problems that they are having. Three months ago, we were told in debates in this House how good the programs were that they were running, how effective they all were, the wonderful police out there and, ‘Everything is under control, don’t worry, trust us’. Now we have them going around, inflaming situations.
Let us have a look at what we are actually doing about this. We have an excellent new Police Commissioner coming in, Paul White, who has a very good background in the real ways of going about reducing crime rates, particularly in his work against drug dealing and motor cycle gangs in South Australia. I think we may now look forward to seeing some really strong concerted action aimed at some of the areas of criminal activity that fuels 40% of the property crime in the Northern Territory. We have to get into that focal point if we are going to make inroads on house break-ins and property crimes, the very areas that are feeding into the drug activities in the Northern Territory.
Mr Burke: Minuscule!
Dr TOYNE: This was the problem that you said did not exist. The member for Brennan over here says: ‘Minuscule’. Well, it is not minuscule – there are 400 000 needles-plus in the needle exchanges. It is out there, it is affecting property crime throughout the Northern Territory urban areas. We are going to deal with it, and we have the Police Commissioner who can deal with it for us.
In terms of the overall crime prevention, we announced, very strongly through the election campaign, that we were going to apply a whole-of-government approach to crime prevention. That will be done through the Office of Crime Prevention under my portfolio, and I am very privileged to be the minister with carriage of that initiative on behalf of our government. That will, for the first time, provide a comprehensive approach, through all government departments, to the antecedents of crime and to the prevention of crime and to the dealing with offensive offending.
Mr Dunham: So, how come it’s going up? Hendo reckons it’s going up.
Dr TOYNE: Well, if it is going up, it is because of 26 years of your crime prevention policies, or lack of them.
Moving to other areas that are going to be highlighted in our crime prevention activities on crime, we are going to look after victims. We are not just going to come in here with the rhetoric. We are going to put out real resources to VOCAL and to the Victim Support Unit, to allow victims to repair their situation after they have had their houses broken into and trashed. We are putting $30 000 in there for the rest of this year, $50 000 every year, to provide for locks to be replaced after break-ins, windows to be repaired and, generally, for the houses of victims to be restored back to a liveable standard. That is how we are going to help victims. Very practical, very immediate, when they need the help. Not coming into the House spouting facile comments about how much you care about them, then do absolutely nothing in terms of public policy.
We are also going to introduce, early next year, a package of legislation and policies aimed at drug manufacturers and distributors. You were not even prepared to talk about that. We are going to legislate. We are going to target drug manufacturing and distribution. We are going to require offenders to undergo drug rehabilitation and treatment programs. We are going to educate our youth on the impact of illicit drugs, and we are going to prevent the ongoing abuse of prescription drugs such as morphine. We are out there doing something, after 26 years of inaction on the other side of the House.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016