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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-07-15 Daily Xml
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CRIME STATISTICS

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (14:51): My question is to the Attorney-General. Has a change in the national and international availability of heroin been a major factor in the reduction of break and enter crimes; and, if so, why has his government claimed credit for that decrease but not accepted responsibility for increases in non-drug related crimes? In his early morning thoughts posted on news website Adelaidenow, the Attorney-General stated that the crime figures relating to burglaries and car thefts have fallen 48 per cent due to:

A shift in drug use away from expensive imported heroin and towards cheaper locally produced amphetamines.

In the same item, the Attorney recognises the increase in assault, which reflects increases in other major crime categories such as murder.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:52): What I said on that occasion was absolutely correct, and I have said it time and again. I thought that I detected an insinuation in the question that somehow this was inaccurate. Well, let me tell you who told me that: it was at one of my meetings with Frances Nelson in my boardroom, where Frances Nelson, Chairman of the Parole Board, went through the changes in drug use in our society during the life of the Rann government, during the past seven years, and she pointed out the consequences of the change in drug use for the patterns of crime.

It so happens that in the seven years of the Rann government crime has gone down 38 per cent. I know that the opposition members are very depressed by that. It is a statistic which is most unwelcome. But I am not so bold as to claim that the 38 per cent reduction is entirely caused by the policies of the Rann Labor government. Many factors determine the way the crime rate goes, and one of them is the proportion of young men in society—the demographics. We all know that most crime is committed by males between the ages of 16 and about 40; and, so, depending on their proportion of the population so will go crime rates.

I stand by exactly what I contributed to The Advertiser blog site. I notice that, in prefacing her mentioning my contribution to The Advertiser blog site, the Leader of the Opposition yesterday noted that I was working late and commented 'get a life'. I do not think that the Leader of the Opposition has any idea what working as a minister entails. She has never been a member of a government, and, if she is to be an alternative premier, she had better get used to the requirement of ministers that sometimes they work into the early hours of the morning. I am often in my office at that time, and I think if the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Sorry?

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: I think if any member of the front bench here had used the words 'get a life' to the Leader of the Opposition, we would be portrayed as bullies and insensitive, but apparently the Leader of the Opposition has benefit of clergy to make such catty remarks about members of the government.

As to the effect of changing patterns of drug use on the crime rate, I think it is noteworthy that when the Leader of the Opposition attended the rave party with Sandra Kanck—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: That is Dr Caldicott, the man who wants to legalise all drugs.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: Yes. The Leader of the Opposition told Channel 7 on 10 December 2006 when she was downplaying the risks of ecstasy, 'Ecstasy doesn't seem to be as big a risk as a number of other drugs.' I will quote the Leader of the Opposition again. These are her own words at a time when she was the shadow attorney-general, the Liberal Party spokesman for criminal justice. She went to a rave party with Sandra Kanck, and after going to the rave party the Leader of the Opposition—the alternative premier—told Channel 7 on 10 December 2006, 'Ecstasy doesn't seem to be as big a risk as a number of other drugs.' That is when she was consorting with Sandra Kanck who proposed giving ecstasy to war veterans. This was the same Sandra Kanck—

An honourable member: Of blessed memory.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: —of blessed memory—who advocated giving ecstasy (that is, MDMA) to the victims of the Eyre Peninsula bushfires. Knowing the position of Sandra Kanck on the legalisation of drugs, the Leader of the Opposition was happy to be her consort at a rave party and to say afterwards that ecstasy does not seem to be as big a risk as a number of other drugs. If you look at the national coroners database, there were 112 ecstasy related deaths in Australia between 2001 and 2004.

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