Ms CARNEY - 2007-10-09
On 6 June this year, your predecessor, the former minister for Police, when launching another mobile police station, said:
The residents of the northern suburbs have been plagued by violent and antisocial gangs for some time, at least as long as 18 months, according to one of the residents. It seems that everything you or your ministers announce has failed and is failing based on your own crime statistics and reports of what happened on the weekend. How do you reasonably expect people to believe what you say in relation to your response announced today to tackle these problems?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, there is a whole suite of measures that our police force will use in tackling crime across the Territory. The police and the special operation that will target what gangs of young people are doing - and these gangs do change: membership changes, there are people who are associated with gangs who come and go from them - represent a whole suite of measures and part of that is a mobile police station. Other parts, as outlined by Acting Commissioner Wernham today, were police who can be even more mobile than a police station, so you are talking about police with bikes, motor bikes and all the measures that they can use when you are dealing, as the Acting Police Commissioner said, with youths who can disperse very quickly.
There are some measures that those who work with young people will use in tackling this problem. We will continue to tackle the problem. When you have bland statements coming from the Leader of the Opposition claiming it is out of control and nobody should believe the things we are saying, if you look at the crime figures, there are consistent areas that are being reduced.
Madam Speaker, I seem to remember a time when residents in Darwin were despairing of a previous government who could not manage property crime. We knew what they had as a strategy and we knew what legislation they had. It was useless. It was absolutely useless.
We have tackled significant areas of crime and we will continue to do it.
Ms Carney interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: We will continue to do it. The Opposition Leader can hold up graphs that she has carefully presented, but what is important to the opposition to realise is that the Opposition Leader cannot come in here and say: ‘This government has to tackle domestic violence,’ which she has said many times, and we agree with her absolutely, but when we tackle it and people are arrested for assault, they are arrested for breach of domestic violence restraining orders, and the figures go up, you cannot then say: ‘You are failing’.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: We are not failing because we are tackling a problem that is entrenched in our community.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Chief Minister, resume your seat. Honourable members, I remind you of Standing Order 51, which is headed ‘No Interruption’:
Honourable members, I will be putting people on warnings should I be noting this form of interruption in the future. Chief Minister, continue.
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, to finally respond to the question, our police have significant resources, more than they ever had before we came to government. We need to keep targeting them on problems that emerge, but we will not back off Territorians who commit crimes on other people, and we will continue to target personal crimes. We will continue to focus on defending women and children in domestic violence situations and we will prosecute those who commit assaults. If that offends the opposition and its leader, I am very sorry about that because we should, as a parliament, be tackling that, should be protecting the vulnerable in our community and these will be reflected in assault figures. I challenge the opposition to compare the level of property crime now with the heyday of the CLP in government when it was significantly higher. Certainly, they had no strategy but a mandatory sentencing policy to deal with it.
- Gang haunts, crime hot spots and areas where antisocial behaviour occurs in Darwin will continue to be targeted with this second mobile police station.
The residents of the northern suburbs have been plagued by violent and antisocial gangs for some time, at least as long as 18 months, according to one of the residents. It seems that everything you or your ministers announce has failed and is failing based on your own crime statistics and reports of what happened on the weekend. How do you reasonably expect people to believe what you say in relation to your response announced today to tackle these problems?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, there is a whole suite of measures that our police force will use in tackling crime across the Territory. The police and the special operation that will target what gangs of young people are doing - and these gangs do change: membership changes, there are people who are associated with gangs who come and go from them - represent a whole suite of measures and part of that is a mobile police station. Other parts, as outlined by Acting Commissioner Wernham today, were police who can be even more mobile than a police station, so you are talking about police with bikes, motor bikes and all the measures that they can use when you are dealing, as the Acting Police Commissioner said, with youths who can disperse very quickly.
There are some measures that those who work with young people will use in tackling this problem. We will continue to tackle the problem. When you have bland statements coming from the Leader of the Opposition claiming it is out of control and nobody should believe the things we are saying, if you look at the crime figures, there are consistent areas that are being reduced.
Madam Speaker, I seem to remember a time when residents in Darwin were despairing of a previous government who could not manage property crime. We knew what they had as a strategy and we knew what legislation they had. It was useless. It was absolutely useless.
We have tackled significant areas of crime and we will continue to do it.
Ms Carney interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: We will continue to do it. The Opposition Leader can hold up graphs that she has carefully presented, but what is important to the opposition to realise is that the Opposition Leader cannot come in here and say: ‘This government has to tackle domestic violence,’ which she has said many times, and we agree with her absolutely, but when we tackle it and people are arrested for assault, they are arrested for breach of domestic violence restraining orders, and the figures go up, you cannot then say: ‘You are failing’.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: We are not failing because we are tackling a problem that is entrenched in our community.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Chief Minister, resume your seat. Honourable members, I remind you of Standing Order 51, which is headed ‘No Interruption’:
- No member may converse aloud or make any noise or disturbance which in the opinion of the Speaker is designed to interrupt or has the effect of interrupting a member speaking.
Honourable members, I will be putting people on warnings should I be noting this form of interruption in the future. Chief Minister, continue.
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, to finally respond to the question, our police have significant resources, more than they ever had before we came to government. We need to keep targeting them on problems that emerge, but we will not back off Territorians who commit crimes on other people, and we will continue to target personal crimes. We will continue to focus on defending women and children in domestic violence situations and we will prosecute those who commit assaults. If that offends the opposition and its leader, I am very sorry about that because we should, as a parliament, be tackling that, should be protecting the vulnerable in our community and these will be reflected in assault figures. I challenge the opposition to compare the level of property crime now with the heyday of the CLP in government when it was significantly higher. Certainly, they had no strategy but a mandatory sentencing policy to deal with it.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016