Page 3114 - Week 07 - Thursday, 1 July 2010
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protesting on the roof, what we do not want to see is more prisoners locked down and what we do not need to see is any more debacles at the jail. I think it is quite clear that the problems that we have stem out of an ineffective minister. He is weak, he is ideologically driven and he is quite clearly unfit to manage the corrections portfolio.
I turn now to ACT Policing. It is always difficult to get to the bottom of some of the issues relating to ACT Policing because of the purchase agreement, and it is difficult to understand some of the detail, through the estimates process and through the documentations provided, of exactly what the staffing numbers are and exactly where the money is going. But a number of issues that did come out through estimates were interesting.
The issue of the suburban policing consultative committees arose, and that has been a piece of contention for a while. It was Labor Party policy, and it seems to be failed Labor Party policy. This was initially going to attract $300,000. It is now being done within hide. I think it is remarkable that the Chief Minister saw fit to run these committees—and there are only three meetings being run and he put a value on that of $300,000—but he complains about the resourcing required for random drug testing. When you compare the two, for the Chief Minister to be putting his effort towards the suburban policing and consultative committees, which in the words of the CPO are not working as optimally as they could, and this is largely due to a less than enthusiastic approach of the community, it is disingenuous then to say that the police will not be given the resourcing this financial year for random drug testing. A recommendation arising out of the committee was to have the minister provide an update on where those consultative committees are at.
Crime statistics in the ACT continue to rise in a number of areas, including assault against a person. That is of particular concern. I know that we have had a lot of debate around assaults in Civic, particularly the alcohol-fuelled violence that has occurred, and the government is starting to respond. But the government’s response has been slow. It is worth reminding members that after nine years we are starting to see some action—starting to see it—being taken by this government. But really the situation that we find ourselves in in Civic is a result of this government’s inaction over the last nine years. There is no doubt that there are many issues that need to be addressed.
I turn now to drink driving in particular. I notice that the Chief Minister tabled legislation last week. There has been a real problem with drink driving in the ACT. This has been escalating over a number of years, and this government’s response has been appalling. In actual fact, I am not sure there has been a response. It has just been sitting and watching whilst, year after year, the number of drink-driving offences has been rapidly increasing in the ACT.
There was a paper that was put in, as I said. It obviously went in with the tabling speech. We will go through that in detail and we will look at the measures that have been put forward. But I do note that Jon Stanhope has finally stepped away from the one idea he seemed to have and the one idea he did seem to be pushing, and that was name and shame. The Chief Police Officer, in his evidence, said:
I do not think there is any empirical evidence that suggests that a name and shame campaign actually works in any jurisdiction.
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