Page 1565 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 17 May 1994
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People were not stupid. They did not generally say, "Yes, we want more spent on education; we want more spent on health; we want more spent on community services". They said, "We do not expect to be taxed more heavily to pay for additional functions in government, except in one area".
Mr Berry: But they are not listening now.
MR HUMPHRIES: That area was significant. Those were the figures released by the Labor Government, Mr Berry. You can dispute them if you want to; but they were the figures Ms Follett herself released, so I think they are a reasonably accurate indication of what is going on.
Madam Speaker, there have been two recent indicators of problems in the Territory. One is the figures published by the NRMA today. The other is the figures produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on crime and safety in Australia. I shall refer first to the figures on car break-ins and car thefts released by the NRMA today. The NRMA, which of course insures a very large number of people in the ACT - I think it has more than half of the market in its own right - says that car theft rates in New South Wales and the ACT have remained relatively stable; however, vehicle break-in rates in the ACT have increased quite dramatically. Greg Sanderson, the Canberra regional manager, said that the large increase in break-ins in the ACT was of concern, and he went on to talk about the ways in which motorists can take some steps to prevent that being a matter of great concern by heading off the problem themselves. He pointed out that the cost of paying for car theft and break-in claims in the ACT increased by 7.1 per cent in 1993 to $1.5m. This community is paying $1.5m a year for car theft and car break-ins. Of course, they are just the NRMA's figures, not everybody's figures.
Madam Speaker, Mr Connolly will be quick to say that the car theft rate in the ACT is good relative to rates in other places in Australia and, of course, he is quite right. It is good; but what is of concern - and this is the point of the matter of public importance being raised by the Opposition today - is that the signs are becoming increasingly uncomfortable. We are seeing rises in these crimes to rates which greatly exceed those of other places in Australia. The NRMA have published a table which indicates that, while Sydney has experienced an 8.4 per cent decrease in car theft and car break-ins, Newcastle an 8.3 per cent decrease and the Illawarra a 4.2 per cent decrease, the ACT, in that one-year period from 1992 to 1993, has experienced a 7.1 per cent increase.
Mr Moore: Whereabouts does it say that?
MR HUMPHRIES: This is on the second page of the NRMA's press release.
Mr Moore: On motor vehicles?
MR HUMPHRIES: Motor vehicles, yes. The release is headed "Car break-ins increase 26 per cent in the ACT". I also draw members' attention to the fourth column of the table headed "Claims per 1,000 policies". Members can see that we certainly have fewer claims per 1,000 policies than do places such as Sydney, where the rate is more than double the rate here. But the point, of course, Madam Speaker, is that we are quickly climbing up
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