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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (29 June) . . Page.. 2247 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

earlier this year, we put out flyers saying that the roadworks were coming, how long they would take and what was the expected timeframe.

With regard to Northbourne Avenue, it is easier on some of the major roads to do the work across weekends so as to reduce the impact on the workday traffic; but, by the same token, we should not be disadvantaging residents. I will have to check the details of that.

MR HARGREAVES: Mr Speaker, my question is to the Attorney-General. Minister, yesterday your office issued a press release attacking my claims that crime has increased. In your press release you said that in 15 categories of crime identified by the ABS, the ACT came under the national rate in 11 areas. However, when you consider the size of the ACT compared with the states, those statistics are alarming. Minister, on page 108 of the crime report, in 10 of the 14 categories the ACT has had an increase. There has been an increase in 10 of the 14 categories.

I am not sure which planet you are on, but in the ACT assault, property theft, motor vehicle theft and unarmed robbery are just a few of the areas that have increased under your stewardship. Indeed, on that same page, according to the national rate, which is what you were comparing it against, property theft is significantly higher than the national average and motor vehicle theft is again significantly higher than the national average. Minister, looking at these statistics, do you not agree that the ACT does have a significant crime problem and that your press release is nothing but spin doctoring and a misrepresentation of the truth?

MR HUMPHRIES: I made it quite clear in my media release and in the comments that I made on the radio that I was not for one instant trying to dress up or excuse the figures from the ABS which were released yesterday. I said then, and I say again now, that the figures on crime are unacceptable and that this government is determined to make sure that we do something about those figures. I should point out that the figures are not a surprise to us, because the figures represent a snapshot of the 1999 calendar year; they are the figures available for that year.

Obviously, week-to-week crime figures from the Australian Federal Police have already alerted us for some time to increasing crime in those property-related areas of car theft and home burglary. That is why members will have heard about the efforts that have been made by the Australian Federal Police, under the aegis of Operation Chronicle, followed by Operation Dilute, to address crime in those two areas, particularly in the area of home burglary. We are about to launch Operation Strike Back and Operation Handbrake to deal respectively with home burglary and car theft. Most importantly, of course, we have additional resources available in the budget to be debated this very afternoon to address those issues.

That is why that money is there, Mr Speaker; to address these very issues. I would have thought that it provided very considerable incentivation for those opposite to consider breaking with the habit of the last five years and supporting this budget. Mr Speaker, you might think that of all the things in this budget, if Mr Hargreaves is truly concerned about crime, he will make sure that there is money there for that.

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