Mr REED - 2002-11-28
I ask how Territorians can have confidence that they and their property will be safe over the Christmas period, given that during the last week one of our government agencies, PowerWater, have said: ‘Ho, ho, ho, put up your Christmas tree and smother it with Christmas lights so that Santa will know where to leave all the presents’, promptly followed a day or so later by: ‘No, no, no’, from the Police Force of the Northern Territory saying: ‘Don’t put up your Christmas tree, don’t smother it in lights, because it will send a message to all the burglars that that is a house to break into to get a good stash of goodies’. Further, of course, the Police Association have now said that they do not have enough police to collectively protect the property of Territorians to make sure that their property is safe, and to indeed ensure that Territorians can have a very happy Christmas.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is a very serious issue.
Mr Reed: Yes, is it ‘ho, ho, ho’ or ‘no, no, no’?
Ms MARTIN: We have been very short on Christmas cheer here. Is that the member for Katherine’s Christmas cheer? Maybe it is.
Under the previous government, year after year, there were always troubled times during the holiday season. We always saw an increase in antisocial behaviour over those breaks. From our point of view …
Mr Reed: Never had police say ‘Don’t put up the Chrissy tree lights’ before.
Ms MARTIN: From our point of view in opposition, we were very loud in saying there should be a focus on tackling those problems that were created in holiday times. We have a very strong commitment to that. I am not saying that it is easy. I am saying that we have a lot of young people on the street and sometimes they do not have much to do, but we are working closely with police to tackle the problems of our community safety. This is in stark contrast to the previous government, which simply said they had a ‘one shot and a locker’ approach. It was one shot in the locker year after year. While they clung to the star of mandatory sentencing - which did descend very rapidly - there were no programs put in place, no real concentration on tackling the issue such as times like the Christmas period.
The police are running targetted operations over Christmas on property crime because this government does not say there is a ‘one shot in the locker approach called mandatory sentencing’ for property crime. We know a multifaceted approach is needed and we are working with police on that targetted approach over the Christmas period. As the police minister said in answer to the last question: there is no magic quick fix for our problems of property crime, even though it might be coming close to Christmas. We will be working in a targetted way.
It is very pleasing to know that the efforts we have put in so far have been vindicated by the figures that we have seen over this last quarter. Those figures show that across the board, crime is coming down in the Territory. We have a lot of work to do. Crime is coming down in the Territory, but we are taking it seriously and are committed, as a government, to having a safer community in the Territory.
We are not committed to a ‘one shot in the locker’ policy, we are committed to a safer community. We will have targetted programs over Christmas to try and ensure that that happens.
Madam SPEAKER: I have to say that one of the pleasures I have before Christmas is driving the children around to see the Christmas lights, and I congratulate all those people who go to enormous effort to put up such wonderful displays. I would hate to think that we would lose that community aspect, because they are great. I am sure the Chief Minister agrees with me.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is a very serious issue.
Mr Reed: Yes, is it ‘ho, ho, ho’ or ‘no, no, no’?
Ms MARTIN: We have been very short on Christmas cheer here. Is that the member for Katherine’s Christmas cheer? Maybe it is.
Under the previous government, year after year, there were always troubled times during the holiday season. We always saw an increase in antisocial behaviour over those breaks. From our point of view …
Mr Reed: Never had police say ‘Don’t put up the Chrissy tree lights’ before.
Ms MARTIN: From our point of view in opposition, we were very loud in saying there should be a focus on tackling those problems that were created in holiday times. We have a very strong commitment to that. I am not saying that it is easy. I am saying that we have a lot of young people on the street and sometimes they do not have much to do, but we are working closely with police to tackle the problems of our community safety. This is in stark contrast to the previous government, which simply said they had a ‘one shot and a locker’ approach. It was one shot in the locker year after year. While they clung to the star of mandatory sentencing - which did descend very rapidly - there were no programs put in place, no real concentration on tackling the issue such as times like the Christmas period.
The police are running targetted operations over Christmas on property crime because this government does not say there is a ‘one shot in the locker approach called mandatory sentencing’ for property crime. We know a multifaceted approach is needed and we are working with police on that targetted approach over the Christmas period. As the police minister said in answer to the last question: there is no magic quick fix for our problems of property crime, even though it might be coming close to Christmas. We will be working in a targetted way.
It is very pleasing to know that the efforts we have put in so far have been vindicated by the figures that we have seen over this last quarter. Those figures show that across the board, crime is coming down in the Territory. We have a lot of work to do. Crime is coming down in the Territory, but we are taking it seriously and are committed, as a government, to having a safer community in the Territory.
We are not committed to a ‘one shot in the locker’ policy, we are committed to a safer community. We will have targetted programs over Christmas to try and ensure that that happens.
Madam SPEAKER: I have to say that one of the pleasures I have before Christmas is driving the children around to see the Christmas lights, and I congratulate all those people who go to enormous effort to put up such wonderful displays. I would hate to think that we would lose that community aspect, because they are great. I am sure the Chief Minister agrees with me.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016