Government Failing On Crime Prevention

Leader of the Opposition, Jodeen Carney says the Labor Government has given up on crime prevention and community safety, based on the latest Northern Territory Quarterly Crime Statistics.

"Is Chris Burns going to do a better job as Police Minister than Paul Henderson on addressing the Territory's spiralling crime rate?

"He will need to do a lot better based on these figures but this is the bloke when Minister for Infrastructure who couldn't get any work started on Tiger Brennan Drive after 2 years and more than $13 million of Federal Government funding, so I'm not holding my breath in anticipation,” Ms Carney said.

Assaults for the same time over the past 4 years have increased by more than15% across the Territory and have been consistently rising. (See attached graph)

In the June 2002 quater there were 870 assaults and the most recent figure for June 2006 is a disturbing 1008 assaults for the same period.

"Territorians do not feel safe and the apathetic Labor Government, instead of striving to reclaim our community is failing to properly address the decay of our community.

"Community safety must be the number one priority for Government and with these ever growing numbers, it's clear why Clare Martin demoted Paul Henderson from the police portfolio.

"It's no wonder morale is low in the police force with media leaks and resignations. This Government is neglecting to allocate appropriate resources to support them in executing their duties.

"It's no good claiming 200 more police officers for the Territory, when that many have left the force. Even police officers are unimpressed with the Government's well worn line of allocating more police to the force.

"5 years of the Martin Government and 5 years of escalating crime figures, the Government has to get serious about tackling this crisis. Territorians want action not photo opportunities and spin,” Ms Carney said.

2006-09-20