Page 880 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 30 March 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Motor Vehicle Thefts
MR HUMPHRIES: My question is to the Minister responsible for police. I refer the Minister to rates of car theft in the ACT and to the Minister's answer to my question in the Assembly last week on this subject. Will the Minister concede that, based on the number of incidents reported to police since the beginning of 1991-92, there has been no significant decline in the number of car thefts in the ACT over that period?
MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, I did not actually hear the first part of that question where Mr Humphries apologised to me for the statements he has been making over the last few days. The fact of the matter is that what I said in the Assembly on Wednesday of last week was that for the six-month period from June to December 1992, as opposed to the six-month period from June to December 1991, there had been a 12 per cent decrease in the number of motor vehicle thefts in Canberra. The assistant commissioner of the ACT region of the Australian Federal Police has since confirmed that. He confirmed that at a press conference yesterday. He confirmed that in a note to me, which I circulated to Mr Humphries yesterday, and I think I provided a copy to Mr Moore and Ms Szuty, who were also expressing some interest in the subject.
Offence statistics show that there was a 12 per cent reduction in that six-month period, as I said. The police did some additional work and gave the absolute update to the end of February, which continues to show a reduction. The rate of motor vehicle thefts is running at about 100 below the equivalent period in the previous financial year. So the rate of motor vehicle theft is falling, Mr Humphries. If you do not accept that, either you are a fool, which I know that you are not, or you are very disingenuous. You are attempting to suggest that I have somehow misled the Assembly. I do not mind that you do not accept my word - I would expect a Liberal not to accept my word - but I find it extraordinary that the Liberal Party seems to be persisting in not accepting the word of the assistant commissioner of police.
Mr Dawson made plain at the press conference yesterday the difference between incidents and offences. We report offences. The annual report of the AFP, which is published both in the Commonwealth Parliament and in this chamber, reports offences year to year. It allows us to compare how we are going from year to year. Offences are reported in every other State in Australia. The Institute of Criminology publishes a summary called "The State of the Crime Problem in Australia". Mr Humphries is aware of that document, because he sent me a sheet from it yesterday in relation to another area - break, enter and steal. He is aware, or should be aware, that the way you compare rates of crime is on the basis of offences reported.
Mr Dawson explained the difference between incidents and offences in this way, and I think it makes it very graphic: On a Friday or Saturday night, and it usually is on a Friday or Saturday night, a person has a few drinks, having parked his car in a city car park. It is not uncommon for such a person to ring the police and say that his car has been stolen. In fact, having had a few drinks, he forgets that his car is parked somewhere else and he cannot find it. He discovers the next day that the car was not stolen; it was in the car park. The police report shows that there was an incident, but no offence. Another example Mr Dawson gave to me this morning, when I was discussing the matter in my office, is of a person who
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .