Page 2374 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 16 September 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
a persistent pattern across robbery, serious assault, violent offences, and break, enter and steal - dwellings. The Canberra Times have come back to listen to what I have to say, although they were not interested in what you had to say, Mr Humphries. I do not know whether we can draw anything from that.
These figures, which I table, demonstrate consistently across all areas that the ACT is either the safest or the second safest community in which to live. In some areas, Tasmania would appear to be a safer community than the ACT. For all sets of figures, the Northern Territory is well and truly out of kilter. It has massive rates well above the other States', explainable by its particular social problems. But in all cases we are well and truly below the other State capital averages. Those figures graphically demonstrate the point that Mr Humphries made, which is that Canberra remains a safe community - safer than other parts of Australia. That is important for us to bear in mind.
Mr Humphries: Not safe enough.
MR CONNOLLY: "Not safe enough", says Mr Humphries. I would agree. Any crime is unacceptable. In any society where crime occurs we have a problem. We have to address it. What do you say about New South Wales, which has crime rates way in front of ours? Is that the fault of the New South Wales Liberal Government? Our crime rate is supposedly the fault of the ACT Labor Government. Presumably, in New South Wales the crime rate is the fault of somebody else. What we have heard from Mr Humphries is cheap political point scoring - basically, the sort of nonsense that we see in the Liberal Party pamphlet.
The figures show that in the ACT there has been a steady increase in crime, and that is a matter for concern. Obviously, governments are concerned about any increase in crime, but the rate of increase can vary from year to year in the ACT. During the 12-month period the Liberal Party was in office, the increase in the rate of crime in most areas was about the same as it has been in the 12 months since, and in the 12 months before that there was a similar pattern.
There is a consistent rate of increase across the ACT. But to say that it is the fault of the Labor Government is simply cheap politicking. What we need to do is come to grips with fundamental issues. What did Mr Humphries have to offer? He said, "Let us get tough with truth in sentencing". In fact, truth in sentencing does apply to ACT prisoners sent to New South Wales. He also said, "Let us address fundamental issues". That, of course, is what the ACT Labor Government has been doing as part of its community safety policy, which was one of the first policies launched in the election campaign.
Our priorities were to maintain the numbers of police protecting the ACT community, and we have done just that. We have achieved some savings in the amounts we spend on policing - a strategy which was endorsed by Mr Kaine when he was Treasurer and when he was Opposition Leader before the last election, and a policy endorsed by Mr Humphries, who was reported in the Canberra Times of 8 July this year as saying that there was no question that cuts to the police budget should be considered and that the police budget should be dealt with like the budgets of other agencies. Those savings, of course, need to be dealt with in such a way that we can continue to deliver services to the community.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .