Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 13 Hansard (27 November) . . Page.. 4843 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

working very nicely in Nowra. A trial is a good idea. Restorative justice is another. Those things are fine.

They are not the be-all and end-all, but they are fine and you need to try a number of different things. We will support anything sensible, but to hang your hat on those things and ignore some of the other issues is very wrong indeed. I have looked at the press statement which-surprise, surprise!-the Chief Minister put out when we debated my sentencing package. I have to say in relation to that that it only deals with a very small part of the real sentencing options. Having had a quick look at it, he has listed probably 20 to 25 per cent of what you would really need to do in terms of having a comprehensive review of sentencing.

My package is not complete, either, but it really does address some crucially important issues. It would be probably 50 to 60 per cent complete. All right, we have debated it; that bill was lost yesterday. I have indicated that the opposition will bring it back in the new year because those things are equally important. The government misses issues such as deterrence and the need to properly sentence and have proper laws in place to assist the courts and, indeed, to indicate to the courts what the community wants and expects in terms of sentencing so that they can arrive at proper sentences, especially for serious crimes. Clearly, the community feels there is a problem, that our courts are not robust enough, that they are somewhat weak and need some assistance and the laws need to be changed in relation to making that part of the system more robust.

At the initial end of the scale, to start with, it means having an efficient, effective police force. We are blessed in the territory with having a very good police force. I believe that it has consistently been the best in Australia. But, quite clearly, it is feeling the strain; quite clearly, it is suffering from resource problems. The national average is, I think, 282 police officers per 100,000 people and we are only at 241. That is a problem. That is 41 short per 100,000 people or 123 per 300,000 people; so, with our population, we are probably about 125 police officers short of the national average. That is a very real problem and it is showing itself in terms of phones ringing out at police stations and the like.

Mr Wood: A simplistic approach.

MR STEFANIAK: No, it is not a simplistic approach, Minister. Quite clearly, the public is frustrated because the police are not necessarily able to attend and phones ring out. That frustrates the police, dedicated officers who really and desperately want to do their job as well as they can, but they are being badly affected.

I must correct Mr Stanhope in terms of saying that we were the burglary capital at one stage when Mr Humphries and Mr Smyth were the relevant ministers. Mr Smyth did not become the police minister until mid-December 2000. Mr Humphries might have been both. Mr Humphries did start Operation Anchorage. I recall being the minister for two months at the end of 2000 and it was ongoing then.

Mr Wood: Was it in your time that things went bad?

MR STEFANIAK: No. Mr Wood, funnily enough, I thank you for mentioning that because-

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .