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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 4 Hansard (30 March) . . Page.. 1111 ..

MR HARGREAVES (continuing):

a relationship between an insurance company and an individual, but the only beneficiaries of it will be the insurance companies because they will be assisted in not having to pay claims if vehicles are stolen.

Mr Speaker, as I said before I was so rudely interrupted unnecessarily, it ought not to be a crime. It is a sin if you do not lock up your car. If you do not lock up your car, you are a bit of a goose. But it ought not to be a crime. We are not talking about a road safety issue, we are not talking about a moving vehicle and we are not talking about an issue where somebody is likely to be injured because of a particular activity. Surely, it is an issue of property. It is an issue between the insurance company and the owner. If the insurance company thinks that you are a recidivist, it can increase your premiums accordingly. If it thinks that you are doing well - you have steering locks and things like that - it can reduce the cost of your insurance policy.

The other week on WIN Television the Minister for Urban Services said that this rule would reduce the cost to the community that those car thefts bring each year. It may reduce the inconvenience and the hassles of car thefts, but it would not reduce the cost to the community. The only cost it would reduce is the cost to insurance companies. Surely, insurance companies and the ACT Government should be forging an alliance to combat vehicle thefts. In fact, the only active work I have seen being done by this Government in attacking vehicle theft has been the shifting of an expert in vehicle theft recovery from that activity to a desk job and finally out of the service. We need to see more Ron McFarlanes around the place and less activity like this.

Mr Speaker, the Productivity Commission report on government said that the ACT had the largest increase in vehicle thefts between 1995 and 1998. It rose by 54 per cent. We were even higher than the national average in 1998. Last month, I placed a question on notice regarding vehicle thefts and clear-up rates in the ACT and the results were outstanding. Last year, 3,393 vehicles were stolen, but there was only a 10 per cent clear-up rate. Looking at the percentage for recovered vehicles for previous years, those figures were pretty high. No doubt, the Government will focus on the figures relating to vehicles recovered but not the clear-up rate. But is it not a bit late when a vehicle is found six months later and it is burnt out?

The Government ought to be focusing its attention on the people who are committing the crime in the first place. The ACT should be looking at other States and the Northern Territory for an insight into this escalating problem. Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory managed successfully to reduce their rate of vehicle thefts last year and have kept it under control over the last four years. Those figures relate to vehicle thefts before this new road rule was introduced. What programs and campaigns have those States and the Northern Territory initiated to produce such positive results?

I would like the record to note, Mr Speaker, the interference that the Minister is running so rudely while I am making this speech. Mr Speaker, most motorists secure their vehicles when they are shopping or at work because they want to eliminate the risk of having them stolen. Unfortunately, even when we do lock our vehicles, they manage to get broken into or stolen. That is why many of us do a little bit extra to ensure that our

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