Mr KIELY - 2006-08-30
Last week in this House, I raised issues raised by Neighbourhood Watch in Anula and Wulagi concerning antisocial behaviour. Can you advise the Assembly on developments to do with addressing crime and antisocial behaviour in the northern suburbs of Darwin?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for his question. Addressing crime and antisocial behaviour is a key priority for the government.
Mr Mills: The member for Sanderson knows!
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Sorry, I missed the interjection, Madam Speaker.
Ms Carney: It was a very good one.
Mr HENDERSON: Maybe we can have it again; I will deal with it. No?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, it is a key priority for this government since we came to government in 2001. As well as the biggest increase in police resources, the Northern Territory Police Force has seen an extra $75m and 200 extra police for our Police Force. In the last 12 months, the community is benefiting from $700 000 worth of new initiatives; $600 000 to establish the public place patrols; Aboriginal Community Police Officers, who are out there day and night across the northern suburbs of Darwin dealing with antisocial behaviour and alcohol-related offences; and, last week, a new $100 000 mobile police station that we unveiled at Karama Shopping Centre.
Madam Speaker, the member for Blain was at the Barrio Festival on Saturday night and I am sure he would have chatted to the police officers who were staffing that mobile police station. They were very pleased with the success it was having in the first few days of operation. They were telling me that it had deployed extensively in the Nightcliff area, particularly around the shopping complex, and it had a significant impact in reducing and deterring antisocial behaviour. The young police officer was saying they were getting a lot of intelligence; people were coming up and giving the police information for them to follow up on.
This is a government which is resourcing our police, and we are starting to see some significant results. We believe in and want to work in partnerships, not only with the community but with the federal government, and the federal government is sitting on a surplus of around $11bn annually. It is the federal government that has ripped out serious money in programs tackling crime in the Northern Territory, including ripping money out of men’s violence programs, women’s refuges and a whole host of other initiatives. The daddy of them all was that the federal government has ripped out $4m …
Ms Carney: Did you not read the budget papers?
Mr HENDERSON: You would think that the Leader of the Opposition would be in there fighting for the Territory, but she is just an apologist for her Liberal mates in Canberra.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: You would think the Leader of the Opposition would be fighting for the Northern Territory, but she just rolls over and lets her Liberal mates rip money out of the Territory. $4m provided for the Juvenile Diversion Program has been ripped out of the Northern Territory. This was a program that was directly tackling reoffending rates in the Northern Territory, and was working, particularly in the northern suburbs.
We must be starting to have a whisper of a federal election campaign, because we are starting to see federal minsters, the Hon Jim Lloyd was here yesterday, and the Justice Minister, the Hon Chris Ellison is here to attend a function in the northern suburbs to shore up Dave Tollner in his fight to retain Solomon.
The challenge for the federal government is to really commit to the Northern Territory. We want to work in partnership with them. I hope that the Hon Chris Ellison is not going to announce some sort of chicken feed grant program tonight. The challenge for him, and the Canberra Liberals which the opposition supports, is to reinstate the $4m that his government has ripped out of crime and antisocial behaviour programs in the Northern Territory, and to match our $700 000 we are putting in to tackling crime and antisocial behaviour. Let us not look for a $50 000 one-off funding injection for a specific project. Let us look to significant support and partnerships with the Northern Territory government if he is serious.
That is the challenge for tonight. The Hon Chris Ellison is not a bad sort of fellow, I have worked with him at Police Ministers’ Councils. He is responsible, at a federal level, for trans-national crime, organised crime, combating terrorism, and he is taking a big interest in the northern suburbs tonight. We hope he makes a big announcement, Madam Speaker. If he does, I will be the first to congratulate him.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for his question. Addressing crime and antisocial behaviour is a key priority for the government.
Mr Mills: The member for Sanderson knows!
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Sorry, I missed the interjection, Madam Speaker.
Ms Carney: It was a very good one.
Mr HENDERSON: Maybe we can have it again; I will deal with it. No?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, it is a key priority for this government since we came to government in 2001. As well as the biggest increase in police resources, the Northern Territory Police Force has seen an extra $75m and 200 extra police for our Police Force. In the last 12 months, the community is benefiting from $700 000 worth of new initiatives; $600 000 to establish the public place patrols; Aboriginal Community Police Officers, who are out there day and night across the northern suburbs of Darwin dealing with antisocial behaviour and alcohol-related offences; and, last week, a new $100 000 mobile police station that we unveiled at Karama Shopping Centre.
Madam Speaker, the member for Blain was at the Barrio Festival on Saturday night and I am sure he would have chatted to the police officers who were staffing that mobile police station. They were very pleased with the success it was having in the first few days of operation. They were telling me that it had deployed extensively in the Nightcliff area, particularly around the shopping complex, and it had a significant impact in reducing and deterring antisocial behaviour. The young police officer was saying they were getting a lot of intelligence; people were coming up and giving the police information for them to follow up on.
This is a government which is resourcing our police, and we are starting to see some significant results. We believe in and want to work in partnerships, not only with the community but with the federal government, and the federal government is sitting on a surplus of around $11bn annually. It is the federal government that has ripped out serious money in programs tackling crime in the Northern Territory, including ripping money out of men’s violence programs, women’s refuges and a whole host of other initiatives. The daddy of them all was that the federal government has ripped out $4m …
Ms Carney: Did you not read the budget papers?
Mr HENDERSON: You would think that the Leader of the Opposition would be in there fighting for the Territory, but she is just an apologist for her Liberal mates in Canberra.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: You would think the Leader of the Opposition would be fighting for the Northern Territory, but she just rolls over and lets her Liberal mates rip money out of the Territory. $4m provided for the Juvenile Diversion Program has been ripped out of the Northern Territory. This was a program that was directly tackling reoffending rates in the Northern Territory, and was working, particularly in the northern suburbs.
We must be starting to have a whisper of a federal election campaign, because we are starting to see federal minsters, the Hon Jim Lloyd was here yesterday, and the Justice Minister, the Hon Chris Ellison is here to attend a function in the northern suburbs to shore up Dave Tollner in his fight to retain Solomon.
The challenge for the federal government is to really commit to the Northern Territory. We want to work in partnership with them. I hope that the Hon Chris Ellison is not going to announce some sort of chicken feed grant program tonight. The challenge for him, and the Canberra Liberals which the opposition supports, is to reinstate the $4m that his government has ripped out of crime and antisocial behaviour programs in the Northern Territory, and to match our $700 000 we are putting in to tackling crime and antisocial behaviour. Let us not look for a $50 000 one-off funding injection for a specific project. Let us look to significant support and partnerships with the Northern Territory government if he is serious.
That is the challenge for tonight. The Hon Chris Ellison is not a bad sort of fellow, I have worked with him at Police Ministers’ Councils. He is responsible, at a federal level, for trans-national crime, organised crime, combating terrorism, and he is taking a big interest in the northern suburbs tonight. We hope he makes a big announcement, Madam Speaker. If he does, I will be the first to congratulate him.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016