Page 4718 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 28 November 1990
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When I was a youngster in a small country town the local police officers did not need the move-on power when dealing with the sort of unruly behaviour to which Mr Connolly was referring. There was a degree of grudging respect, if you like, for the local police officers. It was basically a case of their reading us the riot act, telling us to move on and sending us home, and usually they followed up such an incident with a brief discussion with our parents.
Mr Wood: It never happened to me.
MR JENSEN: They did not do it to you, Bill?
Mr Wood: No.
MR JENSEN: You are unfortunate. You must not have lived in an enlightened country town where that sort of approach was adopted by the police. It seemed to work quite well.
Mr Moore: He lived in Queensland.
MR JENSEN: Yes. So did I, Mr Moore. Unfortunately, over the years there has been a change in the attitude of some of our young people. In some respects, it is one of the prices that we have had to pay for young people being more aware of their rights. Before anyone suggests that I am implying that young people should not be made fully aware of their rights, I will say that that is not the case at all. As a parent of teenage youngsters, I have noticed the different attitude that they have brought to our home and issues that have been raised with them by the school and their peers. So I am fully aware of the changes in attitude that this has brought on since my day.
However, might I suggest with respect, Mr Speaker, that the information that is provided in these circumstances about our new rights also requires an acknowledgment that other people have rights as well. I think it is important for youngsters to consider very carefully their actions and take due note of their consequences before they take any actions that may result in problems of the sort that we have identified.
It seems to me, Mr Speaker, that one way to resolve the issue that has been raised by the community is to establish a very firm working relationship between police and, particularly, our young people. I fully support, as I know the current assistant commissioner for the ACT fully supports, the concept of the relationship between our young people and the police, and I will discuss that a little more later.
As I have already indicated, over the years there has been a slowly developing change in acceptance of authority. I was pleased to see the support for the development of this sort of working relationship between the police and our younger citizens by Mr Moore. I also note the comments
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