Page 5370 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 16 November 2011
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This strategy will bring into force a comprehensive and collaborative response from across government, policing and the community sector, with three key objectives: stopping the cycle of offending through justice reinvestment; engaging the disengaged and emphasising the important role of early intervention in preventing people from committing or recommitting crime; and creating a safer and more secure community by supporting the victims of crime, making buildings and public places safer and ensuring that motor vehicles are secure. These objectives will be supported by a comprehensive action plan that brings together a large number of existing programs and identifies a range of new initiatives.
Turning briefly to Mr Hanson’s amendments, the government is happy to note—well, it is not happy, but the government acknowledges it is important to note—the level of assaults against police and concerns about that. These are crimes that are particularly serious. Offending against a police officer is an offence against us all and is something that should be appropriately noted. But in relation to the second point about the need to increase penalties, that is not a matter appropriate for this motion. There is a proposal, I understand, to be put to the Assembly by Mr Seselja on these matters and I expect that the government will address those particular circumstances when that bill is before us.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (11.48): The Greens will be supporting the motion brought forward by Ms Porter today. I think it highlights an impressive set of statistics with downward trends in many crime categories. Ms Porter in both her motion and in her speech has cited those figures. I think they are figures that it is really important the Canberra community has a full appreciation of, because what it points to is the fact that the police have been very successful in making our city safer and giving our community a sense of security that these sort of crimes are falling.
In that context, I would like to add the Greens’ support for the good work that ACT Policing has done over that reporting period. I think the statistics are evidence that the ACT is reaping the rewards of the ACT property crime reduction strategy 2004-07. That strategy is a proactive approach to reducing crime before it occurs. The statistics certainly suggest that it has been very effective as it has been rolled out. A new version of that strategy is currently being drafted and I encourage both the government and the police service in the work of redrafting that, or updating it. I am certainly hopeful that it will be released sooner rather than later.
It is worth for a moment reflecting on the principles of that 2004 strategy. I will touch on each of them because I think they are quite instructive. The first was the recognition of the importance of integrated approaches across government and the community in addressing crime and complex social issues that contribute to property crime.
Members might recall an article in the Canberra Times probably 12 months ago now. It reflected on the approach police were taking to dealing with a number of recognised families in Canberra that were seen as a key source of many of the property crimes in the city. It outlined the very sophisticated approach that police were taking, not only to catch the offenders but also to work back through the chain and actually work with
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