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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3366 ..

MS FOLLETT (continuing):

resolution of video footage does allow a very accurate identification of people accused of a crime, so as an evidentiary tool they undoubtedly have merit. But, on the basic question of whether they prevent crime or not, there simply is no evidence, one way or the other, and the committee searched long and hard to find any such evidence.

The question of displacement was of great concern for the committee because it did seem to us that by virtue of the proliferation of these cameras crime was simply moving from one area to another. In fact, once you start down the path of installing video cameras you have to keep doing it, moving further and further away from the original site of operation. My concern on that score is borne out, I think, in the committee's report.

To summarise, Madam Deputy Speaker, my overall impression, following our inquiry into this matter, is that the installation of video cameras can be put down to two major motivations. One, undoubtedly, is politics. They are promised and installed by politicians wanting to appear to be cracking down on crime. I say that knowing that, in fact, many Labor politicians have done just that; but that is, undoubtedly, one of the motivations. Another major motivation is commerce. We were told in the areas that we visited that the chambers of commerce had pressed hard for the introduction of video surveillance cameras in areas like the Queen Street Mall and the Gold Coast. In fact, Madam Deputy Speaker, chambers of commerce had made a substantial financial contribution towards the systems in some of those areas. They may well be right. As I say, we have no statistics, but I do note the scale of the issues that they were facing, particularly in Brisbane, where we were told that the Queen Street Mall receives some 600,000 visitors per week. That is a huge number when you consider that our largest tourist attraction, the War Memorial, receives around one million per year. That gives you some idea of the scale. Also, there are an estimated 35 licensed premises within just that couple of blocks. Again, that is a huge number compared, say, to our Civic experience.

Finally, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to join my colleagues in thanking everybody who contributed to our report - the people who put in submissions and the people who met with the committee, particularly the people in Queensland who were extremely generous with their time and their information. I might note that they were even unguarded on some occasions, Madam Deputy Speaker, and they may regret that in future. It was a very information-rich experience for me. This is my first report on this committee and I have enjoyed it very much. I would like to congratulate the committee secretary, Beth Irvin, on her first committee report. It is a new area of work for Beth. I think she has done a grand job. It has been very informative. It is wonderful to come up with a unanimous report, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I only hope that the Government takes their task in examining this report as seriously as the committee took the task of putting it together.

Debate (on motion by Mr Humphries) adjourned.

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