Page 1945 - Week 07 - Thursday, 23 August 2007
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After the 2005 spate, following advice from ACT policing, a joint media presentation was held on 19 June 2007 to raise public awareness of this antisocial and dangerous behaviour. Information regarding the incident, a smashed bus window and photos of the damaged bus were displayed. Since the media presentation there have been more than 56 incidents. It is interesting that in 2005-06 there were only 23 incidents. In 2006-07 there were 43 incidents. After the public presentation on 19 June this year and after the public media stunt, if you like, which was aimed at prevention, there have been 56 incidents.
The incident that occurred yesterday involved a rock being thrown at an ACTION bus at approximately 4.30 pm on the Monaro Highway near Gilmore. The rock smashed through the windscreen of the bus and narrowly missed the driver’s head. No passengers were on the bus because the driver was dead-running to Kingston to commence the next service at Canberra railway station. The police were contacted straightway and I believe the driver was looked after quite appropriately by ACTION.
We have arrangements in place with the police. We have duress buttons and communication systems on the buses. In this case the incident was relayed from the bus to the communications centre and the driver reported that a rock had been thrown. Our communications centre immediately contacted police operations. It is pretty hard for ACTION to prevent people from throwing things at its buses. We have arrangements with the police to enable plain clothes or uniformed police officers to travel on the buses at no charge.
When we have any information that will assist the police in the prosecution of such an incident, plain clothes police are put on the buses to try to detect whether there is a pattern to try to address that issue. We also have regular meetings on this issue with the Transport Workers Union and with ACTION supervisors and drivers. Apart from putting shatterproof glass on all windows, bar the back window, I really do not know how to address this issue. I am told—and this is not a firm figure because I have not seen the numbers yet to support it—that it would cost about $500,000.
Members can be assured that that is something to which this government will give a lot of thought, but I want to see the justification for it. I want to see actual numbers to support that figure. Apart from being able to describe these people I find it very hard to know what to do other than to have further conversations with the police and to take their advice on what to do. Missiles are being thrown from the roadside. This incident occurred on the Monaro Highway when no-one was on the bus. The driver identified some people and relayed that information to the police. (Time expired.)
MR PRATT: I ask a supplementary question. Minister, given the increasing trend of this behaviour and the failure of your education program, which could never have appealed to the better nature of the offenders anyway, what other action has your government taken or do you intend to take to stop this rock-throwing trend?
MR HARGREAVES: I thought I had predominantly answered most of the member’s question when I told the house that we had arrangements in place for a response from the police. As I indicated recently, we have CCTV cameras on our buses. If a bus is stationery and a missile is thrown of the size that was thrown in Gilmore, we may be
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