Mr CONLAN - 2011-03-29
Madam Speaker, I am sure the people here appreciate dealing with the serious issues of law and order, while the Leader of Government Business can only embark on yet another smear campaign ..
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, just stick to the question, please.
Mr CONLAN: On 14 March, you told the Centralian Advocate newspaper that police are now back on top of law and order, we are back on top of the law and order problem. Since then, the paper has reported unlawful entries on 14 March; on 15 March, a stabbing in Alice Springs; on 22 March, a tourist assaulted in Alice Springs; on Wednesday, 23 March, a sexual assault in Alice Springs; on Wednesday, 23 March 2011, a two-year old assaulted in Alice Springs; and on Friday, 25 March, a witness sought for an Alice Springs assault.
Can you explain to the people of Alice Springs how it is that police are now back on top of the law and order situation in town? Is only one serious assault every two days the best they can hope for under your incompetent, failed government?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, one assault is one assault too many. He has a smile on his face. This is how serious the member for Greatorex is. He slinks back to his chair with a smile on his face – absolutely outrageous ...
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I had my children behind me who just called me by my name, so that is why I smiled, big fella.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, that is not a point of order. You do not refer to the Chief Minister in that way either.
Mr Conlan interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, you are on a warning!
Mr HENDERSON: One assault is one assault too many. If the member for Greatorex believes there is some nirvana and a community that would have zero crime, then that is not the reality of the world we live in.
What I can say is that most of those assaults would have been driven, and contributed to, by the abuse of alcohol. So, opposition, if you do not get tough on alcohol, you cannot be tough on crime. They have a policy to have the sale of alcohol for four additional hours every day. More misery, more violence, more trauma in Alice Springs is the policy the CLP would have.
In the reforms we will introduce tomorrow, we have wide-based community support for those reforms, support from the shires, police, people in the medical profession, and people who have researched the effects of alcohol on crime.
We have a former police officer in this parliament, the member for Sanderson, who issued a media release saying the link between alcohol and crime is negligible. A police officer - no wonder he was not promoted very far if he does not believe there is a link between alcohol and crime.
I challenge the Leader of the Opposition: put forward one credible, independent source which supports your plan for four more hours of alcohol being sold on the streets of Alice Springs every day. Put forward one eminent group of professional people who say, yes, if you want to reduce crime, you actually have to sell more grog – because that is your position.
All those assaults are totally unacceptable. The cause of 66% of all violent assaults in Alice Springs is alcohol. Unless you tackle alcohol - and the reforms we are putting in go right to the heart of that - I challenge the opposition to support them.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, just stick to the question, please.
Mr CONLAN: On 14 March, you told the Centralian Advocate newspaper that police are now back on top of law and order, we are back on top of the law and order problem. Since then, the paper has reported unlawful entries on 14 March; on 15 March, a stabbing in Alice Springs; on 22 March, a tourist assaulted in Alice Springs; on Wednesday, 23 March, a sexual assault in Alice Springs; on Wednesday, 23 March 2011, a two-year old assaulted in Alice Springs; and on Friday, 25 March, a witness sought for an Alice Springs assault.
Can you explain to the people of Alice Springs how it is that police are now back on top of the law and order situation in town? Is only one serious assault every two days the best they can hope for under your incompetent, failed government?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, one assault is one assault too many. He has a smile on his face. This is how serious the member for Greatorex is. He slinks back to his chair with a smile on his face – absolutely outrageous ...
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I had my children behind me who just called me by my name, so that is why I smiled, big fella.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, that is not a point of order. You do not refer to the Chief Minister in that way either.
Mr Conlan interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, you are on a warning!
Mr HENDERSON: One assault is one assault too many. If the member for Greatorex believes there is some nirvana and a community that would have zero crime, then that is not the reality of the world we live in.
What I can say is that most of those assaults would have been driven, and contributed to, by the abuse of alcohol. So, opposition, if you do not get tough on alcohol, you cannot be tough on crime. They have a policy to have the sale of alcohol for four additional hours every day. More misery, more violence, more trauma in Alice Springs is the policy the CLP would have.
In the reforms we will introduce tomorrow, we have wide-based community support for those reforms, support from the shires, police, people in the medical profession, and people who have researched the effects of alcohol on crime.
We have a former police officer in this parliament, the member for Sanderson, who issued a media release saying the link between alcohol and crime is negligible. A police officer - no wonder he was not promoted very far if he does not believe there is a link between alcohol and crime.
I challenge the Leader of the Opposition: put forward one credible, independent source which supports your plan for four more hours of alcohol being sold on the streets of Alice Springs every day. Put forward one eminent group of professional people who say, yes, if you want to reduce crime, you actually have to sell more grog – because that is your position.
All those assaults are totally unacceptable. The cause of 66% of all violent assaults in Alice Springs is alcohol. Unless you tackle alcohol - and the reforms we are putting in go right to the heart of that - I challenge the opposition to support them.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016