Ms CARNEY - 2007-11-28
You were Police minister in the Martin government between 2002 and 2006. In the June quarter of 2002, there were 870 reported assaults in the Territory. In the June quarter of this year, there were 1450 reported assaults in the Territory. Do you agree that the Martin government failed to control the rate of violent crime in the Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. This is a government that stands proud of its investment in our fantastic Northern Territory Police Service. Since we came to government in the Northern Territory, we have increased the police budget by around 40%. There are 200 more officers in our police force, which was run down and demoralised, than there were in 2001.
Our Police Commissioner has done a fantastic job in looking at strategies to reduce crime across the Northern Territory, particularly domestic violence. The increase in assaults the Leader of the Opposition is talking about, from the advice I have from the Police Commissioner, is tragically, in the main, related to reports of domestic violence.
Why are we seeing an increase in reports of domestic violence? The advice I have is that since the Police Commissioner introduced dedicated domestic violence squads in Alice Springs, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Darwin, women in the Northern Territory are much more confident about reporting assaults and police have taken a proactive strategy targeting repeat offenders.
It is very easy to put a line on the graph and say violent crime is going through the roof …
Ms Carney interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr HENDERSON: The Leader of the Opposition …
Ms Carney interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition wants to run around and scare Territorians, but can I suggest …
Ms Carney interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, I suggest to the Leader of the Opposition that if she really wants to get across the detail and come into this parliament to debate the facts rather than paint a dishonest picture, she seek a briefing from police about what is driving up these assaults.
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr HENDERSON: Now, I do not deny …
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, please pause. What is your point of order?
Ms CARNEY: The Chief Minister has somehow inferred that the figures contained in the government’s own crime statistics are not correct. I ask you to direct the Chief Minister to say once and for all whether his own crime figures are correct.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, Leader of the Opposition.
Mr HENDERSON: Thank you, Madam Speaker. She does not like to listen to the answer.
In respect of the rise in reported assaults, I am also advised it is related, in part, to the way police record the statistics and a change in the way that they are recording those statistics to match the national data collection records.
In the past, if there was an alleged domestic violence assault whereby a woman reported that over the last three weeks, her partner assaulted her four or five times and she is sick of it, complaining because she wanted something done about it, that would have been reported as one incident.
I am advised now that to comply with national data statistics and gathering, each of those four or five assaults has to be recorded as an individual assault. That also is contributing to the rise in the statistics.
That is not to say that we have had, in the northern suburbs and in my electorate, a spike just recently of totally unacceptable acts of violence. We have also seen a spike in Mitchell Street around the nightclub district of totally unacceptable acts of violence that police are dealing with. However, there are accurate reasons to suggest, and it is the fact, that these rises are, in the main, related to alcohol-fuelled domestic violence. They are as a result of the good work that the police are putting in which is encouraging more women to report because those reports are being actioned and police are doing their job. This government will continue to reinforce our police force to put the resources where we need to put them so that we can continue to address the levels of crime across the Northern Territory.
The Leader of the Opposition should stop being so cute with statistics and have an accurate briefing. I challenge the Leader of the Opposition …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: I challenge the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Blain, if you do not believe me, in terms of what is driving these figures, have the courage to get yourself informed, seek a briefing from the Police Commissioner and he will absolutely reflect what I have just answered.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. This is a government that stands proud of its investment in our fantastic Northern Territory Police Service. Since we came to government in the Northern Territory, we have increased the police budget by around 40%. There are 200 more officers in our police force, which was run down and demoralised, than there were in 2001.
Our Police Commissioner has done a fantastic job in looking at strategies to reduce crime across the Northern Territory, particularly domestic violence. The increase in assaults the Leader of the Opposition is talking about, from the advice I have from the Police Commissioner, is tragically, in the main, related to reports of domestic violence.
Why are we seeing an increase in reports of domestic violence? The advice I have is that since the Police Commissioner introduced dedicated domestic violence squads in Alice Springs, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Darwin, women in the Northern Territory are much more confident about reporting assaults and police have taken a proactive strategy targeting repeat offenders.
It is very easy to put a line on the graph and say violent crime is going through the roof …
Ms Carney interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr HENDERSON: The Leader of the Opposition …
Ms Carney interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition wants to run around and scare Territorians, but can I suggest …
Ms Carney interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, I suggest to the Leader of the Opposition that if she really wants to get across the detail and come into this parliament to debate the facts rather than paint a dishonest picture, she seek a briefing from police about what is driving up these assaults.
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr HENDERSON: Now, I do not deny …
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, please pause. What is your point of order?
Ms CARNEY: The Chief Minister has somehow inferred that the figures contained in the government’s own crime statistics are not correct. I ask you to direct the Chief Minister to say once and for all whether his own crime figures are correct.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, Leader of the Opposition.
Mr HENDERSON: Thank you, Madam Speaker. She does not like to listen to the answer.
In respect of the rise in reported assaults, I am also advised it is related, in part, to the way police record the statistics and a change in the way that they are recording those statistics to match the national data collection records.
In the past, if there was an alleged domestic violence assault whereby a woman reported that over the last three weeks, her partner assaulted her four or five times and she is sick of it, complaining because she wanted something done about it, that would have been reported as one incident.
I am advised now that to comply with national data statistics and gathering, each of those four or five assaults has to be recorded as an individual assault. That also is contributing to the rise in the statistics.
That is not to say that we have had, in the northern suburbs and in my electorate, a spike just recently of totally unacceptable acts of violence. We have also seen a spike in Mitchell Street around the nightclub district of totally unacceptable acts of violence that police are dealing with. However, there are accurate reasons to suggest, and it is the fact, that these rises are, in the main, related to alcohol-fuelled domestic violence. They are as a result of the good work that the police are putting in which is encouraging more women to report because those reports are being actioned and police are doing their job. This government will continue to reinforce our police force to put the resources where we need to put them so that we can continue to address the levels of crime across the Northern Territory.
The Leader of the Opposition should stop being so cute with statistics and have an accurate briefing. I challenge the Leader of the Opposition …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: I challenge the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Blain, if you do not believe me, in terms of what is driving these figures, have the courage to get yourself informed, seek a briefing from the Police Commissioner and he will absolutely reflect what I have just answered.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016