Page 3094 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 15 September 1993
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Ms Szuty said that she hopes that this issue will be less contentious in the future. I can guarantee that that will not be the case. Ms Szuty and others have heard the views of people such as the Victims of Crime Assistance League. They have argued strenuously that these powers have been effective. She has heard the police make the same argument. She may be aware that there was an opinion poll a few years ago - in 1989, when these matters were first debated - which indicated strong community support for the existence of move-on powers. It was either Channel 10 or the Canberra Times that conducted that opinion poll. It is quite bizarre - - -
Mr Berry: It sounds like a Dennis poll to me.
MR HUMPHRIES: It was not a Dennis poll; it was the Canberra Times or it was Channel 10 news. It was a very reputable source, Mr Berry. Madam Speaker, it is bizarre that, as crime in this Territory climbs at very marked rates, the response of the Assembly to those rises in crime, the response of the Assembly to community concern about crime, is to remove one of the few powers the police have to prevent crime. It is a bizarre reaction, and I can assure members of the Assembly that the pact with our police and our community which the Assembly is today dishonouring will not be gone.
People will be reminded of that pact when we go to the polls next time. This will be a very real issue, and this Government and the people who have supported this Government will have to explain why they have taken the step to remove a power which has been demonstrated to have proved its worth in this Territory. The police have shown that they can use these powers responsibly, but they have been dumped on by this Government. At the next election I believe that our position, which acknowledges the problems the ACT has faced with respect to crime, will be empathised with more than the position of the Labor Government, which is to create committees and advisory bodies to try to advise on how we can deal with crime but to take no action about it. That is the responsible course of action that we have adopted, and it contrasts very strongly with that which the rest of the Assembly, unfortunately, on occasions has chosen to take.
Question put:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
The Assembly voted -
AYES, 7 NOES, 10
Mrs Carnell Mr Berry
Mr Cornwell Mr Connolly
Mr De Domenico Ms Ellis
Mr Humphries Ms Follett
Mr Kaine Mrs Grassby
Mr Stevenson Mr Lamont
Mr Westende Ms McRae
Mr Moore
Ms Szuty
Mr Wood
Question so resolved in the negative.
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