Page 3076 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 15 September 1993
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is indeed preventive detention. It is clear from figures that most housebreaking is done by young people in the 15- to 18-year-old age group. So lock them all up and there will not be any housebreaking. How far are we away from that sort of approach from this Opposition that is obsessed with police power?
Madam Speaker, the move-on powers do not - in the Government's view, and indeed in the Opposition's view, it would seem - have any impact on crime in the ACT. For the last two or three years, while the move-on powers have been in force we have had a litany of press releases from the Opposition saying, "Shock, horror! Canberra is the crime capital of the world". So patently, on your own rhetoric, move-on powers have little or no impact upon crime. The view of the Government is that move-on powers never would have an impact on crime.
We have attempts from time to time to beat up crime centres in the ACT. The last attempt was to beat up the Belconnen interchange as the scene of gang violence. It was said that the Belconnen interchange was a major problem and that without the move-on powers it would get worse than it already was. I had not heard reports of problems at the Belconnen bus interchange for some 18 months or so. As soon as I heard Liberal spokespersons on the radio saying that the Belconnen interchange was a problem, I got on to Assistant Commissioner Dawson. I said, "What is going on out at the interchange?". I was aware that there had been problems there some time ago. I will read to you what the police have said:
During 1991 the Belconnen Bus Interchange and surrounding commercial areas were infiltrated by youth gangs creating an atmosphere not conducive to the safe passage and harmony of members of the public using that facility. Members of the Belconnen District Task Force specifically targeted those youths and successfully brought a number of them before the court.
I noted that a member of the public, speaking on talkback radio on this issue, acknowledged that, yes, the police intervened after an assault; yes, a person was charged; and, yes, a person was convicted. That is the successful outcome, one would assume, of a criminal justice system. I continue to quote:
The interchange area was accorded a higher patrol status and with more frequent police presence became an area not favoured by youth gangs. The continued higher profile of police patrols (foot, bicycle and members of both the Task Force and Juvenile Aid Bureau) has successfully eliminated all but sporadic problems from youth who frequent the area. The interchange at this point of time is not considered a problem area within the Belconnen district.
The interchange does not pose a problem to either the community or the police at this point of time. The number of incidents reported from the interchange are below that which could be expected and are generally of a minor nature. They are considered insufficient to cause concern to either police or the commuting public given the numbers of people, in excess of 5,000 per day, using that facility on a daily basis.
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