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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2340 ..

Mr Stefaniak: I agree.

MR STANHOPE: I think we need to clarify that in answer to the question. It is very important that criminal activity be pursued and that the protocols and arrangements we have in place, particularly in relation to the independence of the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions, not be interfered with. If it is a question of prioritising prevention against prosecution, we need to be clear about what we are talking about.

It is axiomatic that prevention is far better. It is far better for the community. It is far better for the people offended against that they not be offended against. In many instances it is far better that we deter people from the criminal process and the courts to the extent we can. If it is a choice between criminal behaviour and non-criminal behaviour, each of us wants non-criminal behaviour.

To the extent that people engage in criminal behaviour, it is necessary, depending on the circumstances, that the force of the law apply and prevail. Through early intervention and support for youth and juveniles, we would hope that we could do more to deter them from crime. This government believes that absolutely. It is fundamental to our attitude to criminal justice. It is fundamental to our attitude to young people at risk. It is fundamental to and underpins the budget that was brought down on Tuesday.

The budget has a quite deliberate focus on the need to intervene early. How do we do that? It is difficult. The ACT is one of the most fortunate communities in Australia. I think we can all agree with that, irrespective of where we sit in the political spectrum. This is a very fortunate community. But we have to acknowledge that a lot of people in this community do it tough. There are a lot of people on the edge. We have around 30,000 people below the poverty line. We have significant communities who are disadvantaged and who are vulnerable, and we have a significant number of young people who unfortunately engage in criminal behaviours.

Government should concentrate on addressing how best to address the needs of those people. We can do that by identifying them to the extent that we can, by identifying the issues that affect them and by seeking to identify the issues that might be relevant to an understanding of why they engage in criminal behaviour. We do not want to scapegoat or point the finger at sections of the community in relation to the extent to which they engage in criminal or unlawful behaviour, but we certainly need to seek to identify those young people at risk of offending. More often than not we find that they are seeking to deal with a range of issues. Many of them go to a lack of family support. Many of them go to dysfunctional families. Many of them go to lack of support in their early years. I am hopeful that through the provision of appropriate family support and through the excellent education system we can address those issues.

Mr Corbell has announced a range of programs aimed at providing support for specific sectors of the community, those we know are at risk. A significant part of the $27 million over and above the growth funds that have been provided to schools in the ACT goes to dealing with precisely these sorts of issues. Our schools offer us the best prospects for identifying, dealing with and supporting children at risk. School is where we can do an awful lot of our good work, and we need to focus a lot more of our attentions there. We

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