Dr LIM - 2003-04-30
Minister, your government claims the CLP is not properly representing the interests of the people of Alice Springs by raising their concerns about crime in this town. In fact, you say that the crime problem is actually a misconception. What do you say to the 200 people who just attended the rally on the steps of this parliament concerned about crime in their own town? What do you say to the victims of crime who have just related their first-hand experiences about the crime position? Do you believe these people have a misconception about crime in their town?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. We have made it very clear that we do care about victims. In fact, one of the things I took away from the rally that happened outside the House just now, is talking to some of the victims who were present there. I have never said that victims are not important and that government should not support them wherever possible. However, we have to separate two things off, and we have been making this point so far in these sittings: that individual crimes have to be dealt with by support for the victims, action by the police, and the prosecution of the offenders in those individual crimes. That can, should, and must happen if we are to control crime in our community.
To take, from those individual offences, a picture of what crime is doing in the whole community, is quite dishonest on the part of the CLP. I have said before that, if you want to talk about trends of crime in our community, we have had the courage as a government to put out comprehensive figures, drawn directly from our police, the courts and our Correctional Services.
The CLP does not want to believe those figures because the figures are showing that our policies are starting to have an early impact on the key areas of crime that I know Territorians are concerned about, particularly house break-ins, assaults and other forms of property crime. We are very encouraged by these early successes of our policies. We will continue to share the information with the general public of the Northern Territory, with the Territorians we both represent and care about. People can make up their own minds about the situation of crime in the community, and it is not going to be helped by the antics that have been carried on by the opposition, where they are deliberately misleading and spreading hysteria about crime areas in our community.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Macdonnell!
Dr TOYNE: The other thing I took away from the gathering today is that people of Alice Springs are actually quite proud of their town, and they believe that it is a very good place to live. They are not impressed by the scaremongering and talking down of Alice Springs that the CLP members have been indulging in. They want …
Dr Lim: Scaremongering! That is scaremongering?
Members interjecting.
Dr TOYNE: I am just wondering if we could have a bit of quiet here, Madam Speaker, for me to complete my answer.
Madam SPEAKER: The minister has the floor, member for Greatorex.
Dr TOYNE: The people of Alice Springs are proud of, and care a lot about their town. We will be working with the people of Alice Springs - not manipulating them, working with them - with a respectful partnership. We will resource their ideas on how to work on these issues within our town. But we are not going to go around telling the rest of the world that Alice Springs is like a crime zone. We are going to be telling the world that this is a great place to live and that there are great people who have lots of ideas about what to do about these problems.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. We have made it very clear that we do care about victims. In fact, one of the things I took away from the rally that happened outside the House just now, is talking to some of the victims who were present there. I have never said that victims are not important and that government should not support them wherever possible. However, we have to separate two things off, and we have been making this point so far in these sittings: that individual crimes have to be dealt with by support for the victims, action by the police, and the prosecution of the offenders in those individual crimes. That can, should, and must happen if we are to control crime in our community.
To take, from those individual offences, a picture of what crime is doing in the whole community, is quite dishonest on the part of the CLP. I have said before that, if you want to talk about trends of crime in our community, we have had the courage as a government to put out comprehensive figures, drawn directly from our police, the courts and our Correctional Services.
The CLP does not want to believe those figures because the figures are showing that our policies are starting to have an early impact on the key areas of crime that I know Territorians are concerned about, particularly house break-ins, assaults and other forms of property crime. We are very encouraged by these early successes of our policies. We will continue to share the information with the general public of the Northern Territory, with the Territorians we both represent and care about. People can make up their own minds about the situation of crime in the community, and it is not going to be helped by the antics that have been carried on by the opposition, where they are deliberately misleading and spreading hysteria about crime areas in our community.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Macdonnell!
Dr TOYNE: The other thing I took away from the gathering today is that people of Alice Springs are actually quite proud of their town, and they believe that it is a very good place to live. They are not impressed by the scaremongering and talking down of Alice Springs that the CLP members have been indulging in. They want …
Dr Lim: Scaremongering! That is scaremongering?
Members interjecting.
Dr TOYNE: I am just wondering if we could have a bit of quiet here, Madam Speaker, for me to complete my answer.
Madam SPEAKER: The minister has the floor, member for Greatorex.
Dr TOYNE: The people of Alice Springs are proud of, and care a lot about their town. We will be working with the people of Alice Springs - not manipulating them, working with them - with a respectful partnership. We will resource their ideas on how to work on these issues within our town. But we are not going to go around telling the rest of the world that Alice Springs is like a crime zone. We are going to be telling the world that this is a great place to live and that there are great people who have lots of ideas about what to do about these problems.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016