Ms CARNEY - 2006-10-10
In a year to year comparison of 2004-05 and 2005-06, rates of crime against the person in the Northern Territory increased in almost every regional centre around the Northern Territory. You continually say that your government is tough on crime. How is an overall increase of nearly 16% in personal crime rates from 2004-05 to 2005-06 being tough on crime? What specific policy measures have you brought into existence to tackle these significant increases?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is an important question. Tackling crime, both personal and property, is a key focus of government and one of the reasons why, when we came to government, we realised that our police force was massively under-resourced. We commissioned the O’Sullivan Report in 2003 and we are increasing police numbers by 200. Currently, there are 165 additional police officers. That certainly makes a difference when you are tackling crime, both in a property and a personal sense.
Between 2001 and this year, we have seen a downward trend in all categories of crime. Over the last year, we have seen some spikes in those areas and that is disappointing. It does not mean that we are not putting resources towards tackling crime, but it does mean that there have been some spikes. We have an overall downward trend in crime because of the resources we are putting in. Over the last year, in some categories in some parts of the Territory, we have seen increases; in other areas, we are seeing decreases.
If you take an area like domestic violence, we have police units targeting the insidiousness of domestic violence and the damage it does, and our police are working with the victims to get them to lay charges. This is really important. If we are going to break through the problems we have in protecting victims of domestic violence – usually it is women - we are going to see police putting more effort in and more charges brought. That means that we are going to have increases in some categories.
So, while you can say there are increases in some categories, in fact, it is a good thing in many ways that we are identifying these crimes and we are taking action.
Overall, we have seen decreases. I do not know whether the Minister for Justice wants to add something in response to this question. He has carriage of the specific figures, but …
Mr Stirling: You have answered the question.
Ms MARTIN: All right. I am saying that, while we are tackling crime, you will see increases in some areas. I know that we had great success with property crime. We have had some spikes in that area. Police have put in place renewed strategies to tackle that small increase in property crime, and we will keep doing that. It is not a matter of saying we have had a downward trend, it is going to stay that way forever. We have to be vigilant. When it comes to tackling personal crime, particularly those crimes of domestic violence, we will continue to track down perpetrators. We will continue to work with victims to bring those charges, and it will be reflected in our crime statistics.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is an important question. Tackling crime, both personal and property, is a key focus of government and one of the reasons why, when we came to government, we realised that our police force was massively under-resourced. We commissioned the O’Sullivan Report in 2003 and we are increasing police numbers by 200. Currently, there are 165 additional police officers. That certainly makes a difference when you are tackling crime, both in a property and a personal sense.
Between 2001 and this year, we have seen a downward trend in all categories of crime. Over the last year, we have seen some spikes in those areas and that is disappointing. It does not mean that we are not putting resources towards tackling crime, but it does mean that there have been some spikes. We have an overall downward trend in crime because of the resources we are putting in. Over the last year, in some categories in some parts of the Territory, we have seen increases; in other areas, we are seeing decreases.
If you take an area like domestic violence, we have police units targeting the insidiousness of domestic violence and the damage it does, and our police are working with the victims to get them to lay charges. This is really important. If we are going to break through the problems we have in protecting victims of domestic violence – usually it is women - we are going to see police putting more effort in and more charges brought. That means that we are going to have increases in some categories.
So, while you can say there are increases in some categories, in fact, it is a good thing in many ways that we are identifying these crimes and we are taking action.
Overall, we have seen decreases. I do not know whether the Minister for Justice wants to add something in response to this question. He has carriage of the specific figures, but …
Mr Stirling: You have answered the question.
Ms MARTIN: All right. I am saying that, while we are tackling crime, you will see increases in some areas. I know that we had great success with property crime. We have had some spikes in that area. Police have put in place renewed strategies to tackle that small increase in property crime, and we will keep doing that. It is not a matter of saying we have had a downward trend, it is going to stay that way forever. We have to be vigilant. When it comes to tackling personal crime, particularly those crimes of domestic violence, we will continue to track down perpetrators. We will continue to work with victims to bring those charges, and it will be reflected in our crime statistics.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016