Mr MILLS - 2008-02-19
Yesterday, you announced yet another plan to deal with antisocial behaviour around Darwin and Palmerston, but we have heard it all before. On 14 February 2006 - that is two years ago - you promised extra resources, new programs and stronger legislation. In the past, you have also promised to fix the problem with the Community Harmony Project in 2002; habitual drunks legislation in 2005, but not delivered; alcohol courts, 1 February 2005; better laws on 21 February 2006; a Minister for Alcohol Policy in 2007; a substance abuse inquiry, reported on in 2007; and more police repeatedly promised over the last six years. Why should we have any faith in your new program when past announcements have failed to deliver results?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, and for reminding the parliament and Territorians that this government has, since we came to government, not been ducking this particular issue, putting it in the too-hard basket or pretending that it is not an issue at all, and working very hard with the community to minimise the disruption of antisocial behaviour that does occur across our urban centres in the Northern Territory. Territorians would know that there is no silver bullet in dealing with this issue. It is a complex issue. At the root of it are complex social problems with chronic abuse of alcohol at the core. This issue is being exacerbated at this point in time as a result of the federal intervention, where many people are coming in from remote communities for a whole heap of reasons: income quarantining of welfare payments, access to alcohol, and everybody who lives in Darwin and Palmerston …
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The honourable member needs to be clear that the intervention has been in place for eight months and that cannot be the reason why these programs have not succeeded in stemming the problem.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the opposition, there is no point of order.
Mr HENDERSON: If the Leader of the Opposition was actually out there in the community talking to people and understood what was happening in communities across the Northern Territory, he would know that a significant amount of the increase in antisocial behaviour is as a direct result of the federal intervention that has seen more people come into town, living in the long grass, and getting on the grog ...
Mr Mills: You guys just like to find excuses Okay, excuses. That is the cause of the problem. Without that there would be no problem. .
Mr HENDERSON: It is only the hermit-like Leader of the Opposition, bunkered down in Palmerston, not talking to people about the complexities of the problems we have. He would be the only person who would not acknowledge that we have a significant increase of people moving to Darwin, Palmerston and our regional centres as a result of the intervention.
We will continue to work across government, with non-government organisations and the federal government, very importantly at the mid-year review, to try to get on top of this problem. We are not a policy-free zone like the opposition. We are not a ‘one-shot-in-the-locker’ policy zone like the opposition. This problem has not materialised overnight. After 27 years in government, what was the only CLP response to antisocial behaviour? It was monstering and stomping, Madam Speaker. That was the only policy response they had. I am not saying or promising to Territorians that we are going to eliminate this problem overnight.
We announced a comprehensive package yesterday that establishes a first response patrol, with police and people from Justice to get in the frontline and understand why people are in town, how to work with them to get back to communities or into temporary accommodation, and a dedicated antisocial behaviour reporting line. We have heard the call from the community, very loudly, regarding calling the police and being triaged through the police response line, and the way the police, with all the issues they have to respond to, sometimes place these issues as low in priority. We will have a dedicated reporting line.
We will reintroduce the Night Patrol, recognising that this problem has increased. We have more police and ACPOs dealing with the issue, but we need additional support from a dedicated Night Patrol. We will introduce closed circuit television cameras across the Casuarina business district and also the CBD - a very strong signal to people who are engaged in alcohol-related antisocial behaviour that acts of violence and humbugging people are going to be on camera and, if they commit offences, then those people will be able to be tracked and the police and the courts will deal with them. It will be a very strong signal to people that, if you engage in that type of behaviour in our major commercial precincts, then there is a very strong likelihood that you will be caught on CCTV.
Very importantly, recognising the complex social issues around this problem, we will have increased accommodation. We have a lot of people in town with nowhere to stay, and we will be funding an additional 127 beds to ensure that, if people are in the long grass, we can actually get them into some accommodation and work with them to get them home. There will also be a significant boost to the Return to Home program that has been very effective in getting around 800 people back to communities. Plus, I will be opening an office in Palmerston.
This is a comprehensive approach to a very significant problem in the Northern Territory. We will continue to work hard to deal with this issue rather than being a policy-free zone, which is all the opposition has to offer.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, and for reminding the parliament and Territorians that this government has, since we came to government, not been ducking this particular issue, putting it in the too-hard basket or pretending that it is not an issue at all, and working very hard with the community to minimise the disruption of antisocial behaviour that does occur across our urban centres in the Northern Territory. Territorians would know that there is no silver bullet in dealing with this issue. It is a complex issue. At the root of it are complex social problems with chronic abuse of alcohol at the core. This issue is being exacerbated at this point in time as a result of the federal intervention, where many people are coming in from remote communities for a whole heap of reasons: income quarantining of welfare payments, access to alcohol, and everybody who lives in Darwin and Palmerston …
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The honourable member needs to be clear that the intervention has been in place for eight months and that cannot be the reason why these programs have not succeeded in stemming the problem.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the opposition, there is no point of order.
Mr HENDERSON: If the Leader of the Opposition was actually out there in the community talking to people and understood what was happening in communities across the Northern Territory, he would know that a significant amount of the increase in antisocial behaviour is as a direct result of the federal intervention that has seen more people come into town, living in the long grass, and getting on the grog ...
Mr Mills: You guys just like to find excuses Okay, excuses. That is the cause of the problem. Without that there would be no problem. .
Mr HENDERSON: It is only the hermit-like Leader of the Opposition, bunkered down in Palmerston, not talking to people about the complexities of the problems we have. He would be the only person who would not acknowledge that we have a significant increase of people moving to Darwin, Palmerston and our regional centres as a result of the intervention.
We will continue to work across government, with non-government organisations and the federal government, very importantly at the mid-year review, to try to get on top of this problem. We are not a policy-free zone like the opposition. We are not a ‘one-shot-in-the-locker’ policy zone like the opposition. This problem has not materialised overnight. After 27 years in government, what was the only CLP response to antisocial behaviour? It was monstering and stomping, Madam Speaker. That was the only policy response they had. I am not saying or promising to Territorians that we are going to eliminate this problem overnight.
We announced a comprehensive package yesterday that establishes a first response patrol, with police and people from Justice to get in the frontline and understand why people are in town, how to work with them to get back to communities or into temporary accommodation, and a dedicated antisocial behaviour reporting line. We have heard the call from the community, very loudly, regarding calling the police and being triaged through the police response line, and the way the police, with all the issues they have to respond to, sometimes place these issues as low in priority. We will have a dedicated reporting line.
We will reintroduce the Night Patrol, recognising that this problem has increased. We have more police and ACPOs dealing with the issue, but we need additional support from a dedicated Night Patrol. We will introduce closed circuit television cameras across the Casuarina business district and also the CBD - a very strong signal to people who are engaged in alcohol-related antisocial behaviour that acts of violence and humbugging people are going to be on camera and, if they commit offences, then those people will be able to be tracked and the police and the courts will deal with them. It will be a very strong signal to people that, if you engage in that type of behaviour in our major commercial precincts, then there is a very strong likelihood that you will be caught on CCTV.
Very importantly, recognising the complex social issues around this problem, we will have increased accommodation. We have a lot of people in town with nowhere to stay, and we will be funding an additional 127 beds to ensure that, if people are in the long grass, we can actually get them into some accommodation and work with them to get them home. There will also be a significant boost to the Return to Home program that has been very effective in getting around 800 people back to communities. Plus, I will be opening an office in Palmerston.
This is a comprehensive approach to a very significant problem in the Northern Territory. We will continue to work hard to deal with this issue rather than being a policy-free zone, which is all the opposition has to offer.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016