Mr LANHUPUY - 1995-05-18
Is the minister aware that the Police Association has expressed doubts about his new private police proposal? On HOT 100, Mr Hill has said that there are `a whole lot of unanswered questions and I think they really have to be addressed'. Will the minister provide details on the legal standing, training and status of the proposed new private police officers? Will they be licensed? What linkages, if any, will they have to the police, and why didn't the minister discuss this proposal with the Police Association prior to its introduction?
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, at the outset, I want to dispel any suggestion that this is a private police force. These officers will be employed by local government councils to address a very serious problem in our community. I thought that the member for Arnhem was quite supportive of this proposal yesterday. He spoke in support of it, and could see some benefits to be gained from its introduction. He was the only member opposite to say that he could see some value in being at the forefront of finding solutions to these problems. From his point of view, he must be concerned, as members on this side are, about the cycle of binge drinking of some Aboriginal people, and I must emphasise that we are not talking only about Aboriginal people, but about all people who pursue antisocial behaviour.
The question from the honourable member refers, at least in part, to the services that would be provided which would impact on those Aboriginal people who are involved in public binge drinking activities which result, among those people, in trauma, serious injuries, stabbings, admission to hospital and, all too frequently, premature death.
Mr Ede: Everyone knows that. Answer the question.
Mr Perron: It is a pretty high-risk group.
Mr Ede: We all know that. Answer the question.
Mr REED: This government is not prepared to stand by and not attempt to find solutions to that problem. We are not prepared to stand by and allow antisocial behaviour to become rampant across the community. This government is not prepared to have people confronted when they walk down the street. It is not prepared to have kids seeing people urinating in the streets, people fighting and people being injured. These activities have to stop.
A range of other programs are in place to address this issue. I indicated in my speech yesterday that we will allocate $22m from the Living With Alcohol program to rehabilitation programs, counselling, education, awareness and other interventionist programs in an effort to solve the problems that we face. However, there are areas that need specific attention, and one such is the area of public drunkenness. It needs specific attention, in the form of dedicated resources which will be able to intervene in the cycle of events that these people find themselves in, and the resultant impact that that is having on the major centres. The people in Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs will no longer tolerate the high levels of antisocial behaviour that they have been experiencing in recent years. We have to re-establish reasonable standards of social behaviour.
In his question the honourable member referred to comments made by the Executive Officer of the Police Association. I do not know that he was particularly critical of the proposal. He was asking questions, and I am pleased that he did. We are pleased to provide him with information on the program. He is dead right too. As I indicated in my statement yesterday, there will be a need for very specialised training and it will be necessary to select very carefully the people who are to be appointed to these positions. I can give the member for Arnhem an assurance that those matters will be taken into account. I can assure him also that, as I said in my statement yesterday, Aboriginal organisations will be involved. This
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service will not override or duplicate what is being done by the Aboriginal organisations, through their night patrols, community patrols and other activities that they have under way. It will complement them and it will work together with them to solve these problems. Many of the requests for this interventionist-type approach have come from the Aboriginal people.
Mr Ede: Not Aboriginal organisations.
Mr REED: The member for Arnhem is sitting over there and nodding his head in agreement. He recognises the problem and, quite separately from the other 6 members in the opposition, he acknowledges that we have to start intervening in this dreadful cycle of antisocial behaviour and the trauma that follows for the people who are in that circle. This government will do it.
I will refer also to the response that I heard on the radio from a couple of the Darwin City Council aldermen this morning. Past Mayor of Katherine, Pat Davies, now Alderman Davies of the Darwin City Council, was expressing concern about this program, and concern that government might be fobbing this responsibility off to the council. There was the implication again that, if the government is confronted with an issue it has no money for, it fobs it off to local government councils. The fact is that the councils will be fully funded when they adopt this program. If they do not think it is to be fully funded ...
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Mr REED: The member for Barkly laughs. It is all too hard. Members opposite recognise that there is a problem but, when they find it is necessary to make a decision and come up with something innovative in order to address antisocial behaviour and the problems that go with it, it is all too hard. They laugh it off. They lack the intestinal fortitude to say: `Let's be innovative and try something'. We are at the forefront on this. This is the only government in Australia that is trying these programs. We are trying to find solutions.
May I say to the councils that, if they do not want to take this on, if they do not think that the funding levels that they are offered will cover the program, they do not have to sign on the line. If that happens, those councils that do not adopt the program will simply make more money available for those councils that will. There are councils which are very keen to take this on. I believe that, when it thinks about it, Darwin City Council will be too. It should give it a go because it knows that there is a problem and that its ratepayers want a solution to that problem. It knows also that this will be a means of going about it. However, we will work it through. There is a long way to go yet with the training of ...
Mr Ede: You have failed and therefore you are handing it over to local government.
Mr REED: We will be putting them in place and we will be talking to Aboriginal organisations.
Mr Bailey: You are a mob of failures.
Mr REED: I am talking to the member for Arnhem. I cannot talk to you because you do not listen. You are too rude to listen.
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The member for Arnhem is interested. If he wants to sit down and talk to me about matters that concern him about the program, I will be only too delighted to speak with him about that, and I would be pleased to receive his advice on some of those matters.
Page 555
Page 552
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, at the outset, I want to dispel any suggestion that this is a private police force. These officers will be employed by local government councils to address a very serious problem in our community. I thought that the member for Arnhem was quite supportive of this proposal yesterday. He spoke in support of it, and could see some benefits to be gained from its introduction. He was the only member opposite to say that he could see some value in being at the forefront of finding solutions to these problems. From his point of view, he must be concerned, as members on this side are, about the cycle of binge drinking of some Aboriginal people, and I must emphasise that we are not talking only about Aboriginal people, but about all people who pursue antisocial behaviour.
The question from the honourable member refers, at least in part, to the services that would be provided which would impact on those Aboriginal people who are involved in public binge drinking activities which result, among those people, in trauma, serious injuries, stabbings, admission to hospital and, all too frequently, premature death.
Mr Ede: Everyone knows that. Answer the question.
Mr Perron: It is a pretty high-risk group.
Mr Ede: We all know that. Answer the question.
Mr REED: This government is not prepared to stand by and not attempt to find solutions to that problem. We are not prepared to stand by and allow antisocial behaviour to become rampant across the community. This government is not prepared to have people confronted when they walk down the street. It is not prepared to have kids seeing people urinating in the streets, people fighting and people being injured. These activities have to stop.
A range of other programs are in place to address this issue. I indicated in my speech yesterday that we will allocate $22m from the Living With Alcohol program to rehabilitation programs, counselling, education, awareness and other interventionist programs in an effort to solve the problems that we face. However, there are areas that need specific attention, and one such is the area of public drunkenness. It needs specific attention, in the form of dedicated resources which will be able to intervene in the cycle of events that these people find themselves in, and the resultant impact that that is having on the major centres. The people in Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs will no longer tolerate the high levels of antisocial behaviour that they have been experiencing in recent years. We have to re-establish reasonable standards of social behaviour.
In his question the honourable member referred to comments made by the Executive Officer of the Police Association. I do not know that he was particularly critical of the proposal. He was asking questions, and I am pleased that he did. We are pleased to provide him with information on the program. He is dead right too. As I indicated in my statement yesterday, there will be a need for very specialised training and it will be necessary to select very carefully the people who are to be appointed to these positions. I can give the member for Arnhem an assurance that those matters will be taken into account. I can assure him also that, as I said in my statement yesterday, Aboriginal organisations will be involved. This
Page 553
service will not override or duplicate what is being done by the Aboriginal organisations, through their night patrols, community patrols and other activities that they have under way. It will complement them and it will work together with them to solve these problems. Many of the requests for this interventionist-type approach have come from the Aboriginal people.
Mr Ede: Not Aboriginal organisations.
Mr REED: The member for Arnhem is sitting over there and nodding his head in agreement. He recognises the problem and, quite separately from the other 6 members in the opposition, he acknowledges that we have to start intervening in this dreadful cycle of antisocial behaviour and the trauma that follows for the people who are in that circle. This government will do it.
I will refer also to the response that I heard on the radio from a couple of the Darwin City Council aldermen this morning. Past Mayor of Katherine, Pat Davies, now Alderman Davies of the Darwin City Council, was expressing concern about this program, and concern that government might be fobbing this responsibility off to the council. There was the implication again that, if the government is confronted with an issue it has no money for, it fobs it off to local government councils. The fact is that the councils will be fully funded when they adopt this program. If they do not think it is to be fully funded ...
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Mr REED: The member for Barkly laughs. It is all too hard. Members opposite recognise that there is a problem but, when they find it is necessary to make a decision and come up with something innovative in order to address antisocial behaviour and the problems that go with it, it is all too hard. They laugh it off. They lack the intestinal fortitude to say: `Let's be innovative and try something'. We are at the forefront on this. This is the only government in Australia that is trying these programs. We are trying to find solutions.
May I say to the councils that, if they do not want to take this on, if they do not think that the funding levels that they are offered will cover the program, they do not have to sign on the line. If that happens, those councils that do not adopt the program will simply make more money available for those councils that will. There are councils which are very keen to take this on. I believe that, when it thinks about it, Darwin City Council will be too. It should give it a go because it knows that there is a problem and that its ratepayers want a solution to that problem. It knows also that this will be a means of going about it. However, we will work it through. There is a long way to go yet with the training of ...
Mr Ede: You have failed and therefore you are handing it over to local government.
Mr REED: We will be putting them in place and we will be talking to Aboriginal organisations.
Mr Bailey: You are a mob of failures.
Mr REED: I am talking to the member for Arnhem. I cannot talk to you because you do not listen. You are too rude to listen.
Page 554
The member for Arnhem is interested. If he wants to sit down and talk to me about matters that concern him about the program, I will be only too delighted to speak with him about that, and I would be pleased to receive his advice on some of those matters.
Page 555
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016