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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-06-23 Daily Xml
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CRIME AND PUBLIC SAFETY

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:14): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Leader of the Government a question about crime and public safety in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: The Premier has publicly commented that the Labor government is tough on crime and that it has increased the number of police officers in order to keep South Australian residents safe. However, according to the Commissioner for Social Inclusion, David Cappo, the reform of the juvenile justice system in South Australia scores a mere one out of 10, as reported on the Channel Nine News of 3 June 2010.

Monsignor Cappo's main concern is that the government is not working collaboratively in order to rehabilitate youth offenders properly. The high number of crimes covered in this month's Sunday Mail and The Advertiser has been extraordinary.

These are some examples. The Advertiser reported on 11 June that a Victor Harbor newsagent and a delivery driver were confronted and allegedly bashed by three youths at about 1am. The Advertiser of Saturday 12 June reported that a young woman, aged 22, was sexually assaulted outside the front door of her Trinity Gardens home at about 9.30pm. On the same day, a passenger assaulted a female tram conductor near the Adelaide Railway Station at about 7.15am.

The Sunday Mail of 13 June 2010 reported that a cab driver was robbed and bashed with a bottle in Elizabeth East, that a BMX-riding bandit robbed a Chemplus pharmacy at Largs North at 3.50pm and that a man was threatened and robbed as he stepped off a bus at the Old Reynella bus interchange at 11.40pm. On the same day, an Australia Post office at Campbelltown was robbed at 3.30pm.

The Advertiser of 18 June also reported that a teenage girl was sexually assaulted and robbed at the tram stop at Glandore at 11.20am. On 21 June, a knifepoint robbery happened at about 6.30pm in North Adelaide, and on 22 June home intruders bashed a young victim at Sefton Park just before 5am.

All these newspaper articles illustrate the frightening reality of the growing fear of violent crime in the community. Even Monsignor Cappo is concerned about the Rann government's actions towards crime. He stated on the Channel Nine News on 3 June, 'We are not getting where we need to go and I ask the government to look into it very quickly.' He also said on 891 ABC on 3 June:

We know we have a very hard-core group of young offenders whose behaviour, violent behaviour is escalating…I don't want, in six months' time or 12 months' time, to have to...report that we've had the death of someone, a bystander, someone involved in one of those crimes.

My questions to the Leader of the Government are:

1. What action will the government take in response to Monsignor Cappo's advice?

2. What improved public safety measures will the government introduce to ensure that the community is protected in their home, workplace and when travelling?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister Assisting the Premier in Public Sector Management) (15:17): First of all, may I say that the accepted statistical measures of crime in this state show that levels of crime have been decreasing and have decreased significantly under this government. Sadly, we will never remove it, and it has been with us ever since the state was formed.

I know when my grandfather was a policeman back in the 1930s a couple of prisoners escaped and there was a shootout in a school at Nailsworth. That was back in the 1930s, so it is not as though violent crime is a new invention in our community, even though it was much less in those days when my grandfather was a policeman. What this government has done is, first of all, increase the number of police by a very significant number.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: But it's not working.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: The honourable member seems to think that you can reduce all crime, but the fact is that if one makes a comparison with the levels of crime in our community with other comparable communities, and if one compares the rates now in 2010 with those a decade ago, there has been a very significant reduction in crime.

One of the reasons is that we have reached a landmark today, as a matter of fact, and my colleague the Minister for Police pointed out that we have now achieved our election promise. So, this is one for the shadow minister for tracking the broken promises of government, and he can rule this one off his list: we have recruited more than 4,400 officers and, by Wednesday next week, there will be 4,403 full-time equivalent officers in South Australia—700 more sworn officers than when the Rann government came to office in 2002.

Now, in relation to Monsignor Cappo's comments, they related to one small element of the crime problem. It was to do with one element of juvenile crime which was reported on. The government has responded to that in a number of ways, but clearly there will remain problems in juvenile crime, as there always have been. If honourable members opposite are suggesting, 'Look, if we get into power, crime will stop: there will not be any crime at all,' then they are really fooling everyone.

We can say that we have put the laws in place; we have put the resources in place through the police, and it has shown the reduction in crime levels. Clearly, there are a number of deep-seated problems existing within our community that we need to address, and I think that is the focus of Monsignor Cappo. Of course, that is why he was appointed by this government; that is, so that we would have someone who could make those sort of comments.

Again we come to the fact that, no doubt, one of the first acts of an incoming Liberal government would be to get rid of people like Monsignor Cappo because he then would not make that criticism. This is what these people are all about. This is their style and you can see it again with this suggestion: just get rid of your critics and pretend it all away. This government is prepared to accept criticism if it is fair and we will act on it, and, indeed, we will do that. If there is anything further that the relevant ministers have to say in relation to the implementation of that policy, I will bring back a response.

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