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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 7 Hansard (21 June) . . Page.. 2396 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

always supported and will always support-but also that we can control what happens to them.

Having our own prison would give us a chance to bring in programs that may help with rehabilitation. There are some people you will probably never rehabilitate. I was in private practice long enough and as a prosecutor long enough to know that there are people who are going to be old lags and, realistically, there is nothing that you can do, except lock them away for their sake and society's sake. But there are some areas where we can do better. Idle hands and idle minds lead to people getting up to all sorts of mischief in gaol. The system probably has gone backwards over the last 25 years in relation to that. Hopefully, that is something we can rectify by having our own prison.

The government has put programs in place in areas where it has control over corrections, such as Quamby, and is keeping the inmates busy. If criminals are involved in such programs, especially the young criminals, there is some chance of rehabilitating them. If you get them young enough, you can train them up. If you turn them out with more skills than they had when they went in, you have some chance of rehabilitating them. For disadvantaged groups, giving them any sort of education is probably one of the best ways of attempting to rehabilitate them. Mr Hargreaves is right in saying that we need to take care of our own. That includes those of our own who are anti-social and who, for whatever reason, transgress and forfeit the right to live in freedom in society.

Mr Hargreaves talked about being a bit more intelligent in terms of putting criminals away, saying that the failure to do so was not always the fault of the police. That is true. That is why this government has introduced a number of laws to assist police in apprehending criminals and putting before the courts people who should be before the courts. That is why we have the various operations to get burglars and car thieves. Yes, it would be rather nice if they could continue. I think that is intelligent policing and I am delighted to see the AFP doing a lot of intelligence-based policing. That is certainly having an effect on the burglary problem, the robbery problem and the car theft problem. To enable that to continue, it is important to ensure that our police do not operate with one hand tied behind their back.

MR SPEAKER: It is a pity that they do not have the support of the courts.

MR STEFANIAK: Sometime that can be a real problem. I will come to that, Mr Speaker. It is important that the police have all the legislative assistance they need. That is why this government has embarked on some criminal law reforms to give police every reasonable legislative tool to enable them to do their job properly.

The ACT is blessed with having a police force which consistently has been regarded, not just here but throughout Australia, as being the best in the country. It is well educated, it has had consistently high standards in terms of getting people into it, and we are very lucky to have it. The community expects us to give them every reasonable assistance we can. In that respect I would commend to members a number of bills before us. A bill amending the Crimes Act is up for debate in August and there is one for further enhancements to the Bail Act. I hope I will have support there as they will give our police some assistance.

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