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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-05-12 Daily Xml
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Safer Neighbourhoods

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (14:56): My question is to the Attorney-General. How is the state government assisting communities to reduce criminal activity and promote safer neighbourhoods?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform) (14:56): I thank the honourable member for her question.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I can't help but pass up the—

The SPEAKER: This is all a gift. All these interjections are a gift to the Deputy Premier. I urge the opposition to stop giving.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I can't help but pass up the opportunity provided by the Leader of the Opposition to just mention that. For those of you who haven't already been down to Bank Street where the new vibrant aspect of the City of Adelaide is on display yet again with a very innovative light show—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: The honourable member will be fascinated to know—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is warned.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: —that whilst they may have been blue the last time the honourable member saw them, I am reliably informed they can change colour, and if the honourable member wishes to provide me with his favourite colour, for example, we could see whether—

Mr Marshall: We like blue; we are happy with blue.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: You like blue, okay. The other thing I should mention, Mr Speaker, and even you may not be aware of this, not only do I believe that the colours can be changed in that magnificent lighting display in Bank Street but words can be put there. For example, if it were the Leader of the Opposition's birthday, it could say 'Happy Birthday, Leader of the Opposition' I am told.

Mr Marshall: I would like to see that.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: If the honourable member would like to let me know confidentially later on when the special day is, we will see if we can organise a surprise for him, but it will be in the evening because that is when the lights are on.

That wasn't the only thing the honourable member for Reynell wanted to know. She wanted to know other things as well. We have a series of grants which actually we encourage all communities to be involved in. These grants can be to all manner of ways of supporting communities in terms of improving community safety. In the most recent round, there have been a number of parts of the city—and I don't just mean the inner city, I mean metropolitan Adelaide in particular—where there have been grants sought, for example, for CCTV installations.

It is really important, we believe, that communities have their own opportunity to identify areas where they feel their public safety might be at risk and to make an application through their local government or agency so that they can actually say to us, 'Look, we would like some assistance with these particular areas being provided with additional security through CCTV.'

Lighting, of course, is another very important aspect, and the Leader of the Opposition has drawn our attention to that. It is one of the great programs we have. These things are local based programs, based in local communities, and it is an opportunity for them to actually participate in selecting the sort of security enhancements they want for their area. I know many of you in this chamber would have particular parts of your electorates where you feel there could be an enhancement of security—around a railway station, for example.

I know the member for Kavel has that excellent sporting facility we visited in his electorate, with that enormous photo of the member for Kavel, with the eyes. It reminded me of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, The Great Gatsby, where the eyes followed you as you drove past. Anyway, it did actually make it quite difficult for some of us to concentrate because, even though the member for Kavel wasn't there in person, we had this sort of spectral image of him peering over us.

The SPEAKER: Alas. The member for Unley.

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