Page 1577 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 17 May 1994
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Something that has changed over a long period of time is the idea of what happens when you go along to court, having reported a crime. Because of the education, false or otherwise, from movies and other things, many people feel that it is not a good idea to get involved in that process; that, rather, they should just wear the problem.
I do not agree that crime rates are increasing alarmingly simply because more people are reporting crimes, although one can debate anything. But what we do know, without any shadow of a doubt, is that more and more crimes are being reported. We know that more people than ever before are having their property stolen or are being assaulted. There are more cases of fraud and so on. There are many cases in financial institutions when fraud, often large-scale fraud, is not reported. I refer to computer crime. There is concern that the methods being used will become well known and more widely used.
Members will recall that details I presented from surveys we did regarding police budget cuts showed that over 70 per cent of Canberrans did not agree with police budget cuts. Mr Connolly mentioned that you needed to make cuts. I think most people, unfortunately, expect budget cuts to police funding. Mr Kaine made a relevant point: Why was the same argument not used when talking about health?
Mr Moore raised a vital point when he talked about the hopelessness of people - not only youths but adults. Indeed, many people feel hopelessness. That is why many people turn to crime. Many people feel hopelessness about getting a job. I think it is unfortunate that we teach so many doomsday scenarios to our young people, in many cases within their school education. We certainly teach such ideas to the general population in what goes out in the media. I think we should adopt a positive approach, giving attention to things that will encourage people to get involved in useful activities. Australia is the wealthiest nation on earth. The assets and resources we have in Australia are simply astounding. The idea that we can have homelessness, unemployment and people on the breadline is, from a practical point, ridiculous. It simply makes no sense logically or logistically. That is the responsibility of governments and of people who elect governments and do not make sure that governments do what the people want.
In this case people want no cuts to the police budget. This goes to the very safety and security of everyone in our community. Government, above all else, has the right, the obligation and the responsibility to protect the life, liberty and property of all Canberrans. It could be argued that that truly is government's only role in getting involved in people's lives. However, it is certainly a vital role. There is no doubt that if you cut police funding - the subject of the matter of public importance - some services will be cut. Police need to be more efficient, just to cope with the increase in crime. One could well argue that the police budget should increase if we have increasing crime. I know that the police have done many things in trying to be more effective. Community policing is one excellent idea. People need to be far more involved in the day-to-day activities in their local communities, to accept more responsibility for what happens and to report things that need to be reported. It is not a matter of dobbing people in. When people see things that are not okay, they should report them immediately.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .