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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (11 November) . . Page.. 3885 ..

Mr Moore: Yes; I am talking about section 429B when I talk about that.

MR HUMPHRIES: Yes; I know. I am quoting from section 429B. The words "The court may not have regard to the prevalence of an offence" clearly mean that the court may not have regard to those matters.

The Government's argument is very simple. There are two bases for moving and supporting this amendment. One is the strongly expressed view of senior members of the legal profession on this subject, people who deal with this problem on a day-to-day basis. The other is the in-principle argument that the community deserves and requires to be protected in the face of serious problems with particular types of crime. It deserves, and demands, to be protected in the face of those sorts of crimes. We have the situation, to which Mr Wood has referred in recent days, where there have been a spate of armed robberies in this Territory - a series of armed robberies. I see, from the newspaper yesterday, that the police are making good progress on breaking up one ring of armed robbers; that is very laudable. Breaking one ring will not solve the problem of armed robbery. There are a number of devices which I think can be employed to deal with armed robbery. Putting more police on the beat is one approach this Government has used, but I am the first to admit that that tactic will be effective only very marginally in preventing armed robberies. Hopefully, it will be effective in clearing up armed robberies, and indeed the clear-up rate is an important factor in dealing with armed robberies. The more likely you are to be apprehended, after the offence, the less likely you are to commit the crime in the first place - in theory, at least.

The other important consideration is the extent to which you can have police in the right place at the right time. It is most unlikely, of course, that police are going to be outside a bank, a building society, a service station, a chemist or a corner store when an armed robber happens to walk in and hold a gun in the face of a shop assistant.

Debate interrupted.

MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! It being 11.00 am, I ask all members, staff and visitors to stand for one minute of reflective silence to commemorate the armistice which ended World War I and to remember the sacrifice of those who died, or otherwise suffered, in all wars and conflicts in which Australia has been involved.

Members stood in their places.

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