Page 4079 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 23 October 2018
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facilities to ensure that upon release people are able to get a job, support themselves and be able to reconnect with the Canberra community. Adjacent to this is $6 million in funding to continue with the intensive corrections order scheme so that offenders can be diverted from full-time imprisonment to further rehabilitation efforts.
The new court precinct is designed to make the court process less traumatic and intimidating for victims and families. There will be support facilities for witnesses and their families, dedicated places for community services and domestic violence support agencies, and a mediation hub to facilitate restorative justice practices outside of the court. This design will ensure that there is no longer a situation where a victim of crime sits next to the perpetrator’s family or vice versa in the waiting room beforehand. Our government will continue the design work for a dedicated drug and alcohol court to adequately deal with these issues.
This multifaceted approach to the criminal justice system is having a positive effect. Over the past year across the territory crime has been down. In my electorate of Yerrabi, crime is down 34 per cent, the largest decrease across Canberra. Overall, assaults fell about 18 per cent from 748 to 616. Thefts were reduced by about 20 per cent, from 2,676 to 2,128. Property damage dipped by 14.5 per cent, from 1,197 to 1,023. Burglary decreased by 21.5 per cent, from 677 to 531 offences. Sadly, however, there were two homicides in the territory over the past year. As a government we can always improve. These increases in support for emergency services and other areas of the criminal justice system can help decrease crime in all areas.
Our government is getting on with the job of making our community safer. Crime is complex and multifaceted with no one real solution. But we do know that educating people and pulling them out of poverty are two of the best things we can do as a society. The tough law and order shtick by those opposite never delivers true and lasting results. Instead, it breeds resentment and distrust while populating prison cells, not to mention making the job of police that much harder.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister assisting the Chief Minister on Advanced Technology and Space Industries) (12.00), in reply: I rise in support of, and also to close debate on, this stage of the Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2018. On behalf of the Attorney-General, I thank members for their contributions. This legislation supports the government’s commitment to improve access to justice for our community and create efficiencies and reduce wait times in the justice process.
As the Attorney-General has outlined, the Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill is an omnibus bill, amending the Crimes (Child Sex Offenders) Act, the Crimes (Surveillance Devices) Act, the Crimes Act, the Drugs of Dependence Act, the Confiscation of Criminal Assets Act, the Magistrates Court Act, the Supreme Court Act and the Legislation Act. It makes minor technical and common-sense amendments to modernise, simplify and clarify these pieces of legislation. The combined effect of these amendments is to improve the efficiency and operation of
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