Ms CARNEY - 2007-11-28
Comparing the June quarter crime statistics for this year with the June quarter crime statistics for 2006, the rate of violent assault increased in Darwin by 88%, in Palmerston by 124%, and in Alice Springs by 60%. How do you explain those increases in assaults and violent crimes in those centres that occurred shortly after you were stripped of your Police portfolio? If say it was just a spike, why is it that there has been an upward trend in violent crime across the Territory in the last five years?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I do not know whether the Leader of the Opposition is listening to the answers because she keeps repeating the question, so I am going to have to keep repeating the answers. I am sure for Territorians who are listening to this broadcast, it is getting a bit monotonous.
We all know that across the Northern Territory, one of the key drivers of antisocial behaviour, domestic assault and violence in our streets and nightclubs is the excessive consumption of alcohol. That is something that this government is tackling in a much stronger and more strategic way than the previous government ever attempted in the Northern Territory. These reforms will continue. They will be ongoing. We will bring the community with us and we believe that over time, we are going to reduce the rate of alcohol-related trauma across the Northern Territory.
As I said before, in the last five years, the police have had a significant increase in resources deployed to them. In the specific tasking the Police Commissioner has put to the police force, Domestic Violence Task Forces have been put in place in each of the main regional centres to focus explicitly on domestic violence, targeting repeat offenders, and encouraging women to come forward. That is what is occurring. Advice from police is that domestic violence accounts for over 50% of those assault figures.
The Leader of the Opposition is trying to spin a line out there that nobody is safe to walk the streets at night, people are going to leap out of the bushes everywhere across the Northern Territory.
Violent crime is absolutely intolerable. It is not acceptable. This government has committed significant additional resources to police to enable them to tackle the insidiousness, the absolute blight particularly of domestic violence in the Northern Territory.
On Thursday, we will be debating further domestic violence reforms that I hope the opposition will support. For many years, this parliament has debated grog as being a contributing factor. We have dry areas legislation that now applies in public places in Alice Springs and is about to take place in Katherine. This is a big debate. ID systems are being contemplated for introduction. There is a lot of work happening to restrict the amount of alcohol entering our communities.
These figures are explainable. They are explainable by the fact that women have more confidence to report now than ever before because there are actually police dedicated and tasked to protecting women and getting prosecutions before the courts for violence and assault. They are also reflected, as I said before, in the different way in which the police are now recording these statistics to comply with national data sets.
As I have said, if the Leader of the Opposition does not believe me about the interpretation of these statistics, she should do herself a favour, seek a briefing from the Police Commissioner …
Ms Carney interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: I do not know why it is so difficult, seek a briefing from the Police Commissioner and she will hear for herself what is happening in the Northern Territory.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I do not know whether the Leader of the Opposition is listening to the answers because she keeps repeating the question, so I am going to have to keep repeating the answers. I am sure for Territorians who are listening to this broadcast, it is getting a bit monotonous.
We all know that across the Northern Territory, one of the key drivers of antisocial behaviour, domestic assault and violence in our streets and nightclubs is the excessive consumption of alcohol. That is something that this government is tackling in a much stronger and more strategic way than the previous government ever attempted in the Northern Territory. These reforms will continue. They will be ongoing. We will bring the community with us and we believe that over time, we are going to reduce the rate of alcohol-related trauma across the Northern Territory.
As I said before, in the last five years, the police have had a significant increase in resources deployed to them. In the specific tasking the Police Commissioner has put to the police force, Domestic Violence Task Forces have been put in place in each of the main regional centres to focus explicitly on domestic violence, targeting repeat offenders, and encouraging women to come forward. That is what is occurring. Advice from police is that domestic violence accounts for over 50% of those assault figures.
The Leader of the Opposition is trying to spin a line out there that nobody is safe to walk the streets at night, people are going to leap out of the bushes everywhere across the Northern Territory.
Violent crime is absolutely intolerable. It is not acceptable. This government has committed significant additional resources to police to enable them to tackle the insidiousness, the absolute blight particularly of domestic violence in the Northern Territory.
On Thursday, we will be debating further domestic violence reforms that I hope the opposition will support. For many years, this parliament has debated grog as being a contributing factor. We have dry areas legislation that now applies in public places in Alice Springs and is about to take place in Katherine. This is a big debate. ID systems are being contemplated for introduction. There is a lot of work happening to restrict the amount of alcohol entering our communities.
These figures are explainable. They are explainable by the fact that women have more confidence to report now than ever before because there are actually police dedicated and tasked to protecting women and getting prosecutions before the courts for violence and assault. They are also reflected, as I said before, in the different way in which the police are now recording these statistics to comply with national data sets.
As I have said, if the Leader of the Opposition does not believe me about the interpretation of these statistics, she should do herself a favour, seek a briefing from the Police Commissioner …
Ms Carney interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: I do not know why it is so difficult, seek a briefing from the Police Commissioner and she will hear for herself what is happening in the Northern Territory.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016