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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-07-03 Daily Xml
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VIOLENT CRIME

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:29): By way of a supplementary question arising from the answer but which has nothing to do with my original question, will the minister explain why under his government violent crimes, such as attempted murder, armed robbery, attempted rape and rape, have gone up?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (14:29): It has not gone up. If one looks at 2002, when this government came to office, overall crime has fallen by a massive 33.6 per cent, including: 16 fewer murders; 369 fewer robberies; 12,600 fewer break and enters; and 3,000 fewer cars stolen. In relation—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Well, let us take some of those statistics.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Let us take some of those questions. That is the side where this government has delivered huge increases. The honourable member is talking about sexual assault. What happened, of course, is that the Statutes Amendment and Repeal (Aggravated Offences) Act 2005 highlighted a broadening of scope. So what this parliament has done is to increase the scope. If you increase the scope of crimes in relation to a particular area then, inevitably, crimes such as assault, kidnap and abduction increase, but this was mainly due (and it was highlighted in the ABS report, so it is not just me saying it) to the broadening and scope of the Statutes Amendment and Repeal (Aggravated Offences) Act 2005.

This act came into effect in May 2006 and reconstructed a number of offence categories, including kidnapping, abduction and assault, to the new dimensions of 'cause harm'. Of course, it is unfortunate that the statistics show that the number of sexual assaults rose this year after falling in 2006, but the fact is that when government's initiate inquiries, such as the Mullighan inquiry into the sexual abuse of children in state care, you will generate and renew public awareness resulting in the increased reporting of offences.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: I have the statistics to show it. In 2007 approximately 10 per cent of sexual assaults reported to police related to incidents occurring prior to 2007. This figure was approximately 5 per cent in 2006. That is a good statistic, because the police have been able to have greater success at solving these crimes. A lot of that might be to do with DNA, but you will have this greater reporting. The fact that 10 per cent of those reports in 2007 involved incidents occurring prior to that year compared to 5 per cent in the year before, I think, is one of the reasons why there has been a relatively slight increase in that category. However, if one looks at the overall crime rate—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: It is not violent crime. As I said, under the opposition's watch crime rose by 31 per cent. Under this government it has fallen by 33.6 per cent.

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