Page 4102 - Week 09 - Thursday, 26 August 2010
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The pathway towards a preventative policing model relies on police officers getting out early in the night and entering pubs and clubs to help regulate the sale of alcohol and the behaviour of drinkers. It is only once the police are on site from early in the evening to enforce the new laws that a difference can be made. The alternative policing model is to wait until later in the night when many patrons are too drunk and violence erupts. This model of policing has been referred to as the kerbside model of policing, where police wait until the problem of excessive drinking erupts into violence outside the venues at the kerbside. The Greens support the paid provision of late night policing so long as they take a preventative approach which aims to reduce alcohol-related violence and harm before it occurs.
I would like to conclude by talking about the third big ticket item, which is that of late night transport. This is an issue that has been known about for too long and about which too little has been done. A discussion paper picked up on the need for better late night transport to get people home safely after a good night out. The government’s work has also picked up on this issue. I am pleased that the government has made a commitment to improving late night public transport.
The ACT Greens have consistently advocated that the Nightrider bus or a similar service should run consistently throughout the year to give late night patrons a safe and cheap option for getting home. The Greens have expressed support for Nightrider as a year-round service for two primary reasons: road safety and as a means for combating late night violence. We have expressed this position as part of our paper, as I mentioned earlier, and we believe that it is a valuable contribution.
The issue of transport is a particularly timely discussion to have in this place, given the incident that took place reportedly in the taxi queue on the weekend. Members in this place would be aware that a brawl of up to 40 people occurred, requiring at least 20 police to intervene and control. Police officers were assaulted with glass bottles and a number of people were arrested. We do not wish to imply that this brawl would definitely not have been caused if the queue for the taxi had been shorter due to the availability of alternatives. However, it is clear that a central, very long taxi queue is a contributing factor to some incidents of violence in the city.
As members in this place would be aware, we have reached agreement with the Attorney-General to conduct a three-month trial of the Nightrider service, and I thank the attorney for working with us this week to find a way to address this issue. We welcome the government’s willingness to conduct a trial of this important and effective public safety measure. This will provide the opportunity to test the effectiveness of this service over an extended period of time and determine if this is the best transport option to get people home after a night out.
As I indicated earlier, the availability of the Nightrider service is an effective road safety measure specifically in regard to reducing drink driving. The high cost of taxis from the city to Gungahlin or Tuggeranong creates an incentive for people who drove into town to attempt to drive back under the influence. The availability of Nightrider has been acknowledged by the Attorney-General, among others, as an effective means of eliminating this incentive and giving people a safe means of getting close enough to home to have a more affordable taxi fare. Whilst the government has to this date
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