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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 5 Hansard (8 May) . . Page.. 1369 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

Michael Moore, as health minister, thought it was for him; and I think Bill Stefaniak made a move because, as education minister, he thought it could have been for him. We all saw that we had a role to play, and there are a couple of good examples of this in things we did in the previous government.

The first was that we commissioned Ecumenical Housing to do a review of our big flat complexes to work out what it was that made them less than desirable places to live. They gave us enormous advice-I know Mr Wood has seen the report-about how to make those places livable and how to give the residents of big flat complexes their own space and a sense of security so that they are able to live normal lives instead of, in some cases, having to live in less than successful neighbourhoods. We have started some work on that, and there is more to be done. I am sure Mr Wood will rise to the challenge.

The other example was the launch, by Mr Humphries as police minister and me as planning minister, of the designing out crime manual. This built somewhat on the work of Ecumenical Housing; it certainly fed into it. But we know so much more about creating a safe physical environment in which people can live. It is really important that Mr Corbell, as planning minister, is involved in this process. That is why I started by saying that this has got to be a big tent. Everyone should have a view and every view should be expressed, and we should be able to bring those views together respectfully and do something incredibly successful.

Mr Speaker, you will be aware that recently I held a mental health forum. The groups that came forward there spoke about some of the problems that they face. They talked about breaking down the silos, saying that someone with a mental health problem would often be afflicted with a drug and alcohol problem as well. One problem would trigger the other, and that would often lead to circumstances where they came into contact with the law. One of the people present told us she had spoken to the police about how to make it better. The police have to be involved in this. They have a view to express about how they would like to deal with these problems, and we have to listen and learn from them what it is that they need to be more successful in the jobs that they would certainly do. (Extension of time granted.)

One thing to come out of Operation Anchorage-and those who were arrested-was that suddenly we had some knowledge about who was perpetrating burglaries in the ACT. It was thought initially that they were all coming from interstate, but that was not true. Something like 97 per cent of them were Canberra born and bred. We had a profile of a burglar: most were young males using drugs. While 67 per cent owned up to using, the police estimated that 95 per cent were probably users.

Cabinet said, "Hang on. Here is an opportunity to bring together this information." We asked the CEOs of Chief Minister's, education and health and the Chief Police Officer to get together and find out what these people had to tell us-what we could learn. It actually worked very well. That is the sort of work that will have to be done by this task force on drug use when it is set up because there is knowledge there now and there is much that we can learn.

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