Mr MILLS - 2011-11-22
How do you explain the drop in the number of people taken into protective custody and the large spike in house break-ins in Alice Springs?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, he obviously did not listen to previous answers. They must have run out of questions on this issue. The increase in break-ins and property crimes around Christmas and New Year, very clearly - we have been up hill and down dale on this since that occurred last year - was directly attributed to, and police have acknowledged the fact, that they took their eye off the ball in regard to repeat offenders in Alice Springs. That has been acknowledged and rectified. There are more police in Alice Springs. They have had a series of targeted operations and there has been a reduction in property crime since then. That is issue one dealt with.
Issue two - the reduction of people taken into protective custody over a similar period. I answered earlier that if the Leader of the Opposition had any interest in what was happening in this area, and following debate, would have understood that the Ombudsman did raise concerns about police legal powers to take people into protective custody. That issue was resolved when our government, this parliament - I do not know whether the Leader of the Opposition understood what was going on in that passage of legislation – very clearly defined those powers that would allow police to take people into protective custody.
That is something I do not want to see on the size and scale that is happening across the Northern Territory. We want to see fewer people in protective custody, we want to see fewer people across the Territory have their lives ruined by alcohol. We are doing that through our reforms, which means people who are in the grip of alcohol, who night after night are taken into protective custody, are cut off from alcohol; that they are given the opportunity to wake up sober and make some choices and decisions about how they are living their lives.
That is what we are doing as a government. The opposition would scrap those reforms, the best tool the police have ever had to reduce crime. In Alice Springs, against all the evidence and the advice, they cannot find anyone with any credibility at all to stand up and say that opening the bottle shops for an extra two hours a day ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: ... is actually going to improve the situation in Alice Springs. More grog is the CLP’s answer to crime and antisocial behaviour in Alice Springs. More grog is the answer to the domestic violence situation in Alice Springs. More grog is the CLP’s answer to child neglect in Alice Springs. It is a shame on the CLP ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Araluen!
Mr HENDERSON: ... and I strongly suggest that the Leader of the Opposition walk away from an absurd policy ...
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, he obviously did not listen to previous answers. They must have run out of questions on this issue. The increase in break-ins and property crimes around Christmas and New Year, very clearly - we have been up hill and down dale on this since that occurred last year - was directly attributed to, and police have acknowledged the fact, that they took their eye off the ball in regard to repeat offenders in Alice Springs. That has been acknowledged and rectified. There are more police in Alice Springs. They have had a series of targeted operations and there has been a reduction in property crime since then. That is issue one dealt with.
Issue two - the reduction of people taken into protective custody over a similar period. I answered earlier that if the Leader of the Opposition had any interest in what was happening in this area, and following debate, would have understood that the Ombudsman did raise concerns about police legal powers to take people into protective custody. That issue was resolved when our government, this parliament - I do not know whether the Leader of the Opposition understood what was going on in that passage of legislation – very clearly defined those powers that would allow police to take people into protective custody.
That is something I do not want to see on the size and scale that is happening across the Northern Territory. We want to see fewer people in protective custody, we want to see fewer people across the Territory have their lives ruined by alcohol. We are doing that through our reforms, which means people who are in the grip of alcohol, who night after night are taken into protective custody, are cut off from alcohol; that they are given the opportunity to wake up sober and make some choices and decisions about how they are living their lives.
That is what we are doing as a government. The opposition would scrap those reforms, the best tool the police have ever had to reduce crime. In Alice Springs, against all the evidence and the advice, they cannot find anyone with any credibility at all to stand up and say that opening the bottle shops for an extra two hours a day ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: ... is actually going to improve the situation in Alice Springs. More grog is the CLP’s answer to crime and antisocial behaviour in Alice Springs. More grog is the answer to the domestic violence situation in Alice Springs. More grog is the CLP’s answer to child neglect in Alice Springs. It is a shame on the CLP ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Araluen!
Mr HENDERSON: ... and I strongly suggest that the Leader of the Opposition walk away from an absurd policy ...
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016