Mr BONSON - 2004-06-17
The Australian Bureau of Statistics released its National Crime Statistics last month. What do these statistics tell us about the rate of crime across the Northern Territory, and the effect of the Martin government’s law enforcement and crime prevention strategies?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, we were very pleased to see the ABS figures come out, because, quarter after quarter, as we have brought out the Territory-based crime statistics - the most comprehensive set of statistics released by any government in Australia - we have seen the property crime levels in those statistics drop and stay down. The ABS figures are certainly confirming what we have already shown in our data series, and that is that crime is reducing in the Northern Territory, particularly in the area of property crime.
The ABS figures tell us that the Northern Territory had the largest drop in reported crime across Australia. For the benefit of members opposite, I will table the national comparison, which shows a fall of over 15%. You can see that in the blue – 15%, Madam Speaker.
Members interjecting.
Mr Dunham interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister, just cease for a moment. I cannot hear anything. Member for Drysdale, would you cease!
Mr Dunham interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Drysdale, you are on a warning. I am trying to hear the answer.
Dr TOYNE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. You will see the blue bar there is a 15% drop for the Northern Territory; this is the Australian average. You will see that crime is reducing around Australia …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I ask the minister if he would table that. I can also table the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which gives us the highest murder rate, the highest homicide rate, the highest …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order.
Dr TOYNE: Madam Speaker, I will table this, and I will table the other graphs for the edification of the CLP over there.
That 15% is almost 3000 fewer victims in 2003 compared to the previous year - 3000. That is what we are doing about victims of crime; we are having less of them.
Delivering on our promise to attack crime and the causes of crime, we have produced drops in 11 out of 14 offence categories.
For their further benefit, I will go through the major changes: sexual assault, down 8.5%; unlawful entry with intent, dropped by 25%; motor vehicle theft, down 13%. Unfortunately, to give a complete picture, we have seen an increase of 6.8% in the number of assaults in 2003 compared to 2002.
We are increasing our efforts to address offences against the person through targetted policing and the very extensive community-based crime prevention measures that we are rolling out at the moment, together with work on the Alcohol Framework. We continue to work community by community to get local initiatives up that are going to impact on these terrible crimes, particularly domestic violence and crimes against women and children.
To conclude, there were 2000 less unlawful entries in the Northern Territory; 1500 less on property theft than under the CLP; 200 less motor vehicles stolen than under the CLP …
Members interjecting.
Dr TOYNE: Have a look at these, you might learn something about crime prevention and how we are going about it. We are preventing crime, they did nothing.
Madam SPEAKER: I remind members that anyone who is named today does not come back into the parliament until next Friday afternoon, including committee stages. Therefore, I would suggest you all settle down a little.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, we were very pleased to see the ABS figures come out, because, quarter after quarter, as we have brought out the Territory-based crime statistics - the most comprehensive set of statistics released by any government in Australia - we have seen the property crime levels in those statistics drop and stay down. The ABS figures are certainly confirming what we have already shown in our data series, and that is that crime is reducing in the Northern Territory, particularly in the area of property crime.
The ABS figures tell us that the Northern Territory had the largest drop in reported crime across Australia. For the benefit of members opposite, I will table the national comparison, which shows a fall of over 15%. You can see that in the blue – 15%, Madam Speaker.
Members interjecting.
Mr Dunham interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister, just cease for a moment. I cannot hear anything. Member for Drysdale, would you cease!
Mr Dunham interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Drysdale, you are on a warning. I am trying to hear the answer.
Dr TOYNE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. You will see the blue bar there is a 15% drop for the Northern Territory; this is the Australian average. You will see that crime is reducing around Australia …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I ask the minister if he would table that. I can also table the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which gives us the highest murder rate, the highest homicide rate, the highest …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order.
Dr TOYNE: Madam Speaker, I will table this, and I will table the other graphs for the edification of the CLP over there.
That 15% is almost 3000 fewer victims in 2003 compared to the previous year - 3000. That is what we are doing about victims of crime; we are having less of them.
Delivering on our promise to attack crime and the causes of crime, we have produced drops in 11 out of 14 offence categories.
For their further benefit, I will go through the major changes: sexual assault, down 8.5%; unlawful entry with intent, dropped by 25%; motor vehicle theft, down 13%. Unfortunately, to give a complete picture, we have seen an increase of 6.8% in the number of assaults in 2003 compared to 2002.
We are increasing our efforts to address offences against the person through targetted policing and the very extensive community-based crime prevention measures that we are rolling out at the moment, together with work on the Alcohol Framework. We continue to work community by community to get local initiatives up that are going to impact on these terrible crimes, particularly domestic violence and crimes against women and children.
To conclude, there were 2000 less unlawful entries in the Northern Territory; 1500 less on property theft than under the CLP; 200 less motor vehicles stolen than under the CLP …
Members interjecting.
Dr TOYNE: Have a look at these, you might learn something about crime prevention and how we are going about it. We are preventing crime, they did nothing.
Madam SPEAKER: I remind members that anyone who is named today does not come back into the parliament until next Friday afternoon, including committee stages. Therefore, I would suggest you all settle down a little.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016